It took the new Trump administration just 20 days to freeze the functioning of a federal agency founded in 1961 and employing over 10,000 people. The US Agency for International Development (USAID), a centerpiece of American influence abroad, was one of the first victims of the offensive against the federal state led jointly by Donald Trump and his sidekick Elon Musk.

The speed and radical nature of the new administration's decisions have brought the organization with its $40 billion budget to its knees. The agency has been placed under the authority of the secretary of state, funding frozen, workers furloughed or ordered to return to the US from wherever they were posted. A look back at the chronology of the events shows Trump and Musk's method to dismantle the agency.

In his first term, Trump repeatedly tried to cut US foreign aid by a third. Faced with systematic refusals from Congress to implement these budget cuts, the Trump administration then attempted to freeze aid.

The most emblematic case was the freezing of aid destined for Ukraine in 2019. The Government Accountability Office rejected the decision, citing the Impoundment Control Act, which prohibits the president from withholding appropriated funds. Trump's move earned him his first impeachment. The Democrats moved against him, believing the president had frozen the funds to force his Ukrainian counterpart to open an investigation into Joe Biden's relationship with Ukraine to sabotage his presidential run in 2020.

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