Secretary of state Marco Rubio sent an internal memo days after President Donald Trump took office vowing an “America First” policy of tightly restricting assistance overseas.

“No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved,” said the memo to staff seen by AFP.

The sweeping order appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid – including potentially to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden as it tries to repel a Russian invasion.

But, the memo explicitly made exceptions for military assistance to Israel – whose longstanding major arms packages from the US have expanded further since the Gaza war – and Egypt, which has received generous US defence funding since it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Rubio – who earlier in his career supported humanitarian aid – also made an exception for US contributions to emergency food assistance.

The memo called for an internal review of all foreign assistance within 85 days.

Rubio’s memo, justifying the freeze, said it was impossible for the new administration to assess whether existing foreign aid commitments “are not duplicated, are effective and are consistent with President Trump’s foreign policy.”