Diversity initiatives, often called DEI, are in the political and business crosshairs. In recent weeks, Meta, Walmart, Target, Ford, and McDonalds are among global companies ending their formal DEI initiatives. Some of the bluster is performative. And yet, for many employees and global firms, theres a sense that this is an opportunity to rebalance the goals and rethink the strategy by innovating diversity practices to better meet the global business goals.
Most DEI programs were crafted years ago, and their relevance and impact has been diminishing. Many initiatives overreached and have not adequately evolved to meet the changing environment. Like with any business process, companies need to innovate their approach to global diversity initiatives.
Theres no doubt international companies recognize the value of having varied perspectives, experiences, and skills in all areas of their business. The global firms we work with know that having different voices and perspectives is essential to enhancing how teams function. It improves processes, productivity, and innovation. Companies are able to better understand their global customers needs and expectations, ultimately leading to increased profitability. The focus is then on how to ensure that there are diverse perspectives at every stage of a business process.
Diversity is defined different ways
A core element of our work focuses on applying social sciences, including cultural anthropology, to understand how local factors impact how companies achieve their business objectives. This is distinctly different from diversity initiatives, which are more focused on getting everyone to follow one standardized playbook for engagement, not necessarily prioritizing business goals.
In the DEI playbook, there is only one accepted definition of diversity, when in reality diversitys definition differs across cultures. In the U.S., U.K., and Canada, for example, theres a tendency to focus on visible characteristics given the countries multicultural demographics. American companies have tried to export this version of DEI, but it does not work in every culture. The way American firms approach diversity has been stuck at the visible characteristics phase.
In other countries, invisible characteristics like region, rural/urban setting, income, education, religion, tribe, caste, etc. can be more relevant, impacting how people communicate, interact, operate, and manage. Its essential to recognize that people who look different can actually think alike. And people who look alike can think differently.
We already know that having people of different socioeconomic backgrounds provides more varied perspectives that can impact business objectives and innovation. For example, diversity of educational backgrounds means that companies are increasingly recognizing that they need to recruit from a wider range of colleges and universities around the world.
Rethink diversity
Its time to innovate by rethinking and expanding how we talk about diversity, making sure that its globally relevant for all stakeholders. And in this current environment, we have a unique opportunity to innovate diversity initiatives to meet the evolving needs of employees and customers worldwide.
To be effective, its essential to integrate cultural nuances and localize any global strategies, including diversity initiatives, to achieve business objectives. There are key points to keep in mind as global firms integrate varied perspectives, voices, and roles into their business operations and processes.
First, the current DEI concept is heavily influenced by American perspectives and values and it may not translate to local cultures. Focusing on shared values and business objectives, our cultural framework uses a methodology integrating social sciences and business. Companies should focus on how to improve their stakeholder engagementwith employees, customers, and partnersto achieve business goals.
Diversity as the end goal is insufficient. It has to integrate into how people communicate, interact, and manage. Integrating cultural frameworks helps focus companies on making sure their teams work more effectively across cultures to better achieve business goals.
For example, global hospitality and travel firms we work with recognize that global customer engagement teams with varied experiences result in better overall customer experience and satisfaction metrics, including higher NPS (Net Promoter Score) and improved profitability.
What are the companys goals, and how can everyone collectively work together toward those goals? Starting with that premise enables teams to focus on how to communicate and interact more effectively across cultures, engaging local teams to better understand the opportunities and challenges for getting all team members involved.
Share perspectives
Second, ensure that everyone throughout your organization can provide their perspective wherever relevant and useful. Ensure that virtual and in-person teams are cognizant of local cultural communications patterns so all ideas and perspectives are shared. For example, our cultural framework integrates a number of cultural factors to compare and contrast cultures.
Individualistic versus collective. Its not surprising that on a comparative basis, the U.S. is the most individualistic culture in the world. American business metrics tend to reward and advocate for the individual. In contrast, Asian, Middle Eastern, African, and Latin American cultures value group goals and teamwork more. So, any diversity and business initiative that focuses on the individual ahead of the group may not work locally. Its more valued to be respectful of the group dynamics. For example, throughout Asia, the focus is on the collective good. Highlighting individual differencesvisible or invisibleis considered a negative.
People from diverse backgrounds and cultures communicate differently. A fundamental concept is verbal and nonverbal communications (high-low context). People who expect direct communications and clear verbal directnesse.g., in the U.S.will miss nonverbal cues from colleagues who are accustomed to reading the context, such as in East Asia. Add in hierarchical cultural value, where junior team members are less likely to speak up in the presence of respected senior team members. Other factors can complicate communications and team dynamics including invisible characteristics such as local income, education, caste, tribe, etc.
These are simple examples of invisible characteristics, but they illustrate that companies need to be clear about diversity goal efforts. Diversity for the sake of diversity may not be as successful across cultures, but diversity as a way to achieve shared corporate values and goals is more likely to resonate.
When developing a diversity program, be careful not to tell people how to be diverse but rather provide a conversation forum. We need to innovate how we view diversity, integrate invisible characteristics across cultures, and focus on shared purpose and business goals. In the long run, our goal should be to infuse diversity in every business process and team rather than a separate business unit. It will become ubiquitous.
Sanjyot P. Dunung is founder and CEO of Atma Global.
The cost of Valentine’s Day may be a lot higher this year compared to last year. You’ve probably heard the price of eggs has skyrocketed, but if you haven’t already started shopping for your Valentine, be prepared for some sticker shock, especially for perennial favorites like roses and chocolates. Here’s why.
How much will I pay for roses this year?
Depending on where you live, you might be digging deep into your pockets. This Valentine’s Day, the average price for a dozen long-stemmed roses (red or white) is a staggering $90.50, 2% more than last year, according to FinanceBuzz as reported by CBS News.
Yet a 2% hike would be getting off easy, considering that if you live in Hawaii, youll have to shell out $143 for that same dozen, which is 58% more expensive than the national average.
Wondering where the best bargain can be found? It’s California, where you’ll pay an average of $68 for a dozen roses, compared to $110 in Texas (where the cost of living is on average much cheaper than in California).
Another reason for the hefty price tag on bouquets? Inflation over multiple years. The average price went up from $80.16 in 2023 to $88.61 last year.
Here are the states where roses are most expensive these days, rounded to the nearest dollar based on data from FinanceBuzz:
Hawaii: $143 per dozen
Texas: $110 per dozen
Washington: $107 per dozen
Montana: $105 per dozen
Kentucky: $102 per dozen
Wyoming: $102 per dozen
Ohio: $102 per dozen
South Carolina: $102 per dozen
Kansas: $100 per dozen
Iowa: $99 per dozen
While erratic weather patterns can also play a role in flower production and prices, this years prices are mostly a result of, and in line with, inflation, as supplies remain high. In fact, some 940 million cut flower stems have already arrived in the U.S. for the holiday via Miami International Airport, mostly from Colombia and Ecuador, according to ABC News. Around 90% of holiday flowers sold in the U.S. from around the world transit through Miami, with the other 10% transiting through Los Angeles before they are distributed to stores around the country, according to ABC.
What about chocolate prices?
Alas, sweets for your sweet will cost you more this year, too. With the price of cocoa more than double what it was at the start of 2024, expect to pay 10% to 20% more for a box of chocolates this Valentine’s Day, according to a Wells Fargo analyst, as reported by CNN.
The reason? A familiar story: Cocoa production has been hit with supply chain issues stemming from COVID-19, inflation, and the weather.
In West Africa, which produces 70% of the globes cocoa supply, extreme weather events, including El Nio, have raised temperatures in the region, creating both drought conditions and flooding that led to fungus on the crops. As a result, growers have been producing fewer crops, which means fewer cocoa beans.
At the time of this writing (midday on Tuesday), cocoa was trading at $10,103.13 per metric ton, up 72% in the first few months of 2025, but still down from its December high.
In the aftermath of Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI, leading companies across corporate America have been reevaluating their diversity programs. Disney is now joining the ranks of major employers that are shifting their DEI efforts, according to a memo obtained by Axios.
One of the major changes will be how diversity goals correlate with executive compensation, which has become a common practice at many large companies. Disney will now consider “talent strategy” rather than “diversity and inclusion” as a factor in executive compensation, though that will still include elements of DEIa shift that seems more like a reframing, rather than an outright rejection of DEI practices.
Disney is also changing the name of its affinity groups from “Business Employee Resource Groups” to “Belonging Employee Resource Groups,” to underscore how ERGs are a crucial part of “strengthening our employee community and workplace experience,” per the memo. It’s not entirely clear what the rebrand means for ERGs, though unlike some other companies (i.e. Ford), Disney does not seem to be restructuring those groups to focus on professional interests rather than shared identity. (The company did not respond to a request for comment and clarification on its ERG strategy.) In addition, Disney is also making content-related changes to the language of its disclaimers and the Reimagine Tomorrow initiative, which has highlighted stories from underrepresented communities.
Also, unlike other companies, Disney does not appear to be disbanding its DEI team altogether or completely eliminating its diversity initiatives. Most of the changes outlined in the memo seem intended to move away from the traditional language of diversity programsperhaps to address any legal riskbut Disney is still using terms like “belonging” that have long been a part of DEI parlance.
In fact, the company still seemed to express its support for DEI values in the memowithout using the term itself. “Creating a welcoming and respectful environment for our employees and guests is core to our company culture and our business,” human resources chief Sonia Coleman wrote. “Our valuesintegrity, creativity, collaboration, community, inclusionguide our actions and how we treat each other.”
Shares of Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) rose 8% on Tuesday after Vice President JD Vance said that the U.S. will safeguard American artificial intelligence and chip technologies from theft and misuse by its “adversaries,” making a veiled reference to China. (The stock closed up by just over 6%.)
We will . . . work with our allies and partners to strengthen and extend these protections and close pathways to adversaries attaining AI capabilities that threaten all of our people, Vance said in address at Frances AI Action Summit in Paris. Some authoritarian regimes have stolen and used AI to strengthen their military intelligence and surveillance capabilities, capture foreign data, and create propaganda to undermine other nations national security.”
China’s chipmaking and AI technologies have been front and center at the Paris talks, with a focus on China’s DeepSeek, a reasoning AI model believed to now rival U.S.-based OpenAI’s GPT-o1 technology, but at a much lower cost.
Intel is currently trying to turn around its business after the chip-manufacturing giant’s shares lost 59.60% last year. The stock is down 4.2% year to date. The question on the street remains whether Intel can get back its chipmaking edge. Help from the Trump administration could do just that.
Once the largest semiconductor company in the world, Intel has lost market share in the past few years to rivals Nvidia and Broadcom after making a number of missteps, including missing out on the generative artificial intelligence boom. It eventually lost its spot in the Dow Jones Industrial Average to Nvidia.
Intel is now rebuilding its business, having cut 15% of its staff as part of a $10 billion plan to reduce costs this past summer. More recently, Intel’s fourth-quarter earnings beat estimates, driving shares up 3% in after-hours trading, although it issued disappointing guidance ahead.
Meanwhile, shares of Nvidia and Broadcom stayed relatively flat today, down 0.22% and up 0.89%, respectively.
In the Northern Hemisphere, February is the middle of winter. According to NASA, this is why Native American tribes named this month’s full moon the Snow Moon. Historically, the shortest month of the year was also the coldest because of the heavy snowfall that occurred.
Another name for this lunar display of grandeur is the Hunger Moon. That name also makes historical sense because of how the snowiest month made hunting and gathering more difficult. If you didnt plan ahead properly, your stomach was bound to rumble.
Lets take a deeper look at the winter of it all, and when to best peep up at the night sky for optimal full moon viewing.
When exactly is the middle of winter?
Many people believe that Groundhog Day marks the middle of winter. Its a close approximation, but not always 100% accurate. If you want to get technical, according to the Farmers Almanac, the middle of winter varies from year to year.
Groundhog Day always falls on February 2, and this year, the following day was actually the halfway mark between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox.
Winter takes the prize for both the coldest and shortest season of the year. It lasts 88.99 days on average. Its brevity is due to perihelion, the point in the Earths orbit that it is closest to the sun. The cold is caused by Earth’s axial tilt, or obliquity. In the Northern Hemisphere, from December to February, the earth is tilted away from the sun, which means less direct sunshine and chillier days. The tilt overrides the nearness of the sun.
Whats a groundhog got to do with it?
Groundhog Day was created by German-speaking immigrants in the United States, who became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch because of a misinterpretation of the word “Deutsch.” It was based on the Christian tradition of Candlemas, a feast celebrating the day that Jesus was presented at Temple by Joseph and Mary.
The early Christian church incorporated pagan traditions into its calendar. For Candlemas, one of these was weather-predicting folklore. In Germany, a bear or badger was used, but in the United States, groundhogs took center stage.
The best known groundhog these days is Punxsutawney Phil, who calls Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania home. This year, he predicted six more weeks of winter after seeing his shadow.
How to see the full snow moon
In parts of the country, such as the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, snow storms may prevent one from catching the snow moon. Talk about irony.
The rest of the country will also experience cloudy skies amid potential rainstorms. If you want to try your luck, according to EarthSky, the full moon will reach peak illumination on Wednesday morning (February 12) at 8:53 a.m. ET. The celestial orb will also appear full Thursday and Friday.
Meta underwent another big round of layoffs on Monday, cutting 3,600 jobs, or roughly 5%, of its total workforce. Between 2022 and 2023, the tech giant eliminated 21,000 positions, nearly a quarter of its workforce, and continued to reduce staff in 2024. But while those other recent reductions appeared driven by organizational restructuring and cost-cutting efforts, CEO Mark Zuckerberg seemed to tie this weeks layoffs to those he deemed “low performers.”
Ive decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low performers faster, Zuckerberg wrote in an internal memo when announcing the cuts in January. We typically manage out people who arent meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now were going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle.
Some of the employees who have just been let go object to this characterization, though, and they are fighting back.
Layoffs are increasingly common in tech, but theyre often framed as a failure of the company and its leaders rather than a reflection of individual employees. (Although Amazon famously culls its workforce based on performance metrics, and Microsoft reportedly has plans to do the same.) Given Metas public trumpeting of the low-performer criteria for this recent initiative, however, being swept up in this batch of layoffs seems closer to just getting fired.
When these newly unemployed workers apply for other jobs, the concern is that hiring managers who might ordinarily be impressed with seeing Facebook on a CV will know exactly why these applicants are suddenly on the marketand, as a result, may be less inclined to give them a chance to defend themselves in an interview.
Instead of waiting to find out for sure, some laid-off workers have started preemptively defending themselves onlineand they are bringing receipts.
Kaila Curry, who, until Monday, worked in product content operations at Meta, posted on LinkedIn her surprise at being lumped in with supposed low performers after receiving an exceeds expectations in her mid-year review. I frequently asked for feedback and was always told I was doing a good job, she wrote in the post. I was never placed on a [performance improvement plan], never given corrective feedback, and never properly mentored or provided clear expectations.
Currys experience lines up with a new report from Business Insider, claiming Meta’s director of people experience allowed managers to add employees from higher-performance tiers to those marked for layoffs if they couldn’t reach their reduction goals just from lower-rated employees. A spokesperson for Meta tells Fast Company that these were “performance-based terminations,” adding, “Prior ratings were not downgraded. Simply because someone had a history of meeting or exceeding expectations does not mean they continue to consistently meet the bar.
In searching for other potential reasons for her inclusion in the layoffs, though, Curry cites one recent incident: Perhaps I became too vocal when our shift to young adult (YA) content involved removing safeguards that protected LGBTQ+ users.
The past few months have been a time of transition for Meta. The company has recently made major changes to its content moderation and DEI policies that appear in line with Zuckerbergs recent embrace of President Trump. (The CEO also donated to Trumps inauguration fund, added UFC CEO and Trump ally Dana White to Metas board, and declared on Joe Rogans podcast in January that companies currently need more “masculine energy.“)
Another former employee, data scientist Joshua Latshaw, was also taken aback by his inclusion in the layoffs. As he wrote on LinkedIn, his five-year history with the company included several exceeds expectations ratings and a promotion. (His post even includes screenshots of those reviews in the comments.) According to Latshaws post, a meets most expectations in 2024 followed months of turmoil within his teamwith the managers who conducted his review having only worked with him for less than six weeks.
This is the first [Performance Summary Cycle] at [M]eta that I wasn’t exactly correct in predicting my rating, he wrote.
The lone meets most expectations rating in Latshaws tenure at Meta was also striking, he notes, because it followed his taking parental leave earlier in the year. Over on Reddits r/Layoffs sub, a pseudonymous poster, identifying as a senior-level Meta employee who was let go on Monday, wrote that she, too, had taken maternity leave in the lead-up to her layoff. Several posters elsewhere on Reddit describe rumors of other Meta employees being laid off after returning from a recent parental or medical leave. (Meta did not comment on this.)
Regardless of what led each Meta employee to wind up in this round of layoffs, it’s clear that the “low performer” moniker struck a nerve among those affected. Metas stock has been on the rise, with shares gaining 65% in 2024. Yet, considering that Zuckerbergs big bet on the metaverse continues to cost his company billions of dollars per quarter, the CEO should maybe consider himself fortunate to have evaded the low performer label himself.
Ukraine has offered to strike a deal with President Donald Trump for continued American military aid in exchange for developing Ukraines mineral industry, which could provide a valuable source of the rare earth elements that are essential for many kinds of technology.
Trump said that he wanted such a deal earlier this month, and it was initially proposed last fall by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of his plan to strengthen Kyivs hand in future negotiations with Moscow.
We really have this big potential in the territory which we control, Andrii Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. We are interested to work, to develop, with our partners, first of all, with the United States.
Here is a look at Ukraines rare earth industry and how a deal might come together:
What are rare earth elements?
Rare earth elements are a set of 17 elements that are essential to many kinds of consumer technology, including cellphones, hard drives and electric and hybrid vehicles.
It’s unclear if Trump is seeking specific elements in Ukraine, which also has other minerals to offer.
It can be lithium. It can be titanium, uranium, many others, Yermak said. Its a lot.
China, Trumps chief geopolitical adversary, is the worlds largest producer of rare earth elements. Both the U.S and Europe have sought to reduce their dependence on Beijing.
For Ukraine, such a deal would ensure that its biggest and most consequential ally doesn’t freeze military support. That would be devastating for the country, which has been at war for nearly three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
The idea also comes at a time when reliable and uninterrupted access to critical minerals is increasingly hard to come by globally.
What is the state of the Ukrainian minerals industry?
Ukraines rare earth elements are largely untapped because of the war and because of state policies regulating the mineral industry. The country also lacks good information to guide the development of rare earth mining.
Geological data is thin because mineral reserves are scattered across Ukraine, and existing studies are considered largely inadequate. The industry’s true potential is clouded by insufficient research, according to businessmen and analysts.
In general, the outlook for Ukrainian natural resources is promising. The country’s reserves of titanium, a key component for the aerospace, medical and automotive industries, are believed to be among Europes largest. Ukraine also holds some of Europes largest known reserves of lithium, which is required to produce batteries, ceramics and glass.
In 2021, the Ukrainian mineral industry accounted for 6.1% of the countrys gross domestic product and 30% of exports.
An estimated 40% of Ukraine’s metallic mineral resources are inaccessible because of Russian occupation, according to data from We Build Ukraine, a Kyiv-based think tank. Ukraine has argued that it’s in Trumps interest to develop the remainder before Russian advances capture more.
The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, identified Ukraine as a potential supplier for more than 20 critical raw materials and concluded that if the country joins the 27-nation EU, it could strengthen the European economy.
What happens next?
Details of any deal will likely develop in meetings between U.S. and Ukrainian officials. Trump announced Tuesday that he would send Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet with Zelenskyy.
This War MUST and WILL END SOON Too much Death and Destruction. The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show, Trump said in a post on his social media network about the trip.
U.S. companies have expressed interest, according to Ukrainian business officials. But striking a formal deal would likely require legislation, geological surveys and negotiation of specific terms.
It’s unclear what kind of security guarantees companies would require to risk working in Ukraine, even in the event of a ceasefire. And no one knows for sure what kind of financing agreements would underpincontracts between Ukraine and U.S companies.
Samya Kullab, Associated Press
Susie Blann and Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
Trader Joes and other grocers are limiting the number of eggs customers can buy across the U.S., citing limited supply caused by the ongoing bird flu outbreak.
Trader Joes is capping purchases to one carton per customer each day, the Monrovia, California-based chain confirmed. That limit applies to all of Trader Joes locations across the country.
We hope these limits will help to ensure that as many of our customers who need eggs are able to purchase them when they visit Trader Joes, the company said in a statement sent to The Associated Press Tuesday.
Photos of in-store notices about eggs purchase limits at retailers nationwide have swirled around online in recent weeks. In addition to Trader Joes, consumers and several local media outlets have also reported varying limits seen at stores like Costco, Whole Foods, Kroger and Aldi locations.
When each limit went into effect is unclear, however. And not all are being implemented nationally. A spokesperson for Kroger, for example, confirmed that the supermarket giant doesnt currently have enterprise-wide limits in place but said some of regional divisions and store banners are asking customers to cap egg purchases to two dozen per trip.
Walmart says it also hasnt imposed national limits expect for bulkier purchases of 60-count cartons, which have been capped to two per purchase, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant confirmed Tuesday.
Although supply is very tight, were working with suppliers to try and help meet customer demand, while striving to keep prices as low as possible, Walmart said in an emailed statement.
Costco, Whole Foods and Aldi did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. But Costco confirmed to CNN that the chain was limiting its customers to three packages of eggs, which are typically sold in two-dozen or four-dozen cartons. Meanwhile, notices previously seen in some Target locations have warned about supplier shortages, but dont indicate specific purchase limits. The AP reached out to the retailer for further information.
Avian flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023.
The average price per dozen nationwide hit $4.15 in December and it appears there may be no relief in sight, with the Agriculture Department predicting prices will soar another 20% this year. Retailers could notably feel added pressures with Easter demand fast approaching.
Beyond grocery stores limits, U.S. consumers are also facing more expensive eggs in some restaurants. Last week, Waffle House, for example, said it would be adding a 50-cent surcharge per egg on all of its menus.
Wyatte Grantham-Philips, Associated Press
President Donald Trump on Tuesday moved to revert to older standards for light bulbs as well as toilets, showers and other water-using appliances, a day after signing an order promoting plastic straws and rescinding a plan to reduce single-use plastics.
Trump said he would call on the Environmental Protection Agency to go back to water standards from his first White House term that would also affect sinks, washing machines and dishwashers.
In a post on his private social media platform, Trump wrote that he was directing EPA Secretary Lee Zeldin “to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders,” calling them common sense.
“I look forward to signing these orders,” Trump added.
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order encouraging the U.S. government and consumers to buy plastic drinking straws, part of a broader weakening of environmental commitments by the Republican president after taking office on Jan. 20. Trump first served in the White House from 2017-2021.
Trump’s Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden, had embraced a host of environmental measures, including new energy-efficiency requirements for household clothes washers and dishwashers that capped water usage. Conservatives had challenged the rules in court.
(This story has been corrected to reflect that no action has been taken yet in the headline)
Susan Heavey, Reuters
The Trump administrations dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is stiffing American businesses on hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills for work that has already been done, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The administrations abrupt freeze on foreign aid also is forcing mass layoffs by U.S. suppliers and contractors for USAID, including 750 furloughs at one company, Washington-based Chemonics International, the lawsuit says.
One cannot overstate the impact of that unlawful course of conduct: on businesses large and small forced to shut down their programs and let employees go; on hungry children across the globe who will go without; on populations around the world facing deadly disease; and on our constitutional order, the U.S. businesses and organizations said.
An organization representing 170 small U.S. businesses, major suppliers, an American Jewish group aiding displaced people abroad, the American Bar Association and others joined the court challenge.
It was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington against President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting USAID Deputy Administrator Peter Marocco, a Trump appointee who has been a central figure in hollowing out the agency, and Russell Vought, Trumps head of the Office of Management and Budget.
It is at least the third lawsuit over the administration’s rapid unraveling of the U.S. aid and development agency and its programs worldwide. Trump and ally Elon Musk have targeted USAID in particular, saying its work is out of line with Trumps agenda.
Marocco, Musk and Rubio have overseen an across-the-board freeze on foreign assistance and agency shutdown under a Jan. 20 executive order by Trump. A lawsuit brought by federal employees associations has temporarily blocked the administration from pulling thousands of USAID staffers off the job. The funding freeze and other measures have persisted, including the agency losing the lease on its Washington headquarters.
The new administration terminated contracts without the required 30-day notice and without back payments for work that was already done, according to a U.S. official, a businessperson with a USAID contract and an email seen by The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal by the Trump administration.
For Chemonics, one of the larger of the USAID partners, the funding freeze has meant $103 million in unpaid invoices and almost $500 million in USAID-ordered medication, food and other goods stalled in the supply chain or ports, the lawsuit says.
For the health commodities alone, not delivering them on time could potentially lead to as many as 566,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and unmet reproductive health needs, including 215,000 pediatric deaths, the lawsuit says.
The filing asserts that the administration has no authority to block programs and funding mandated by Congress without approval.
Marocco defended the funding cutoff and push to put all but a fraction of USAID staff on leave in an affidavit filed late Monday in the lawsuit brought by the workers groups.
Insubordination and noncompliance by USAID staffers made it necessary to stop funding and operations by the agency to allow the administration to carry out a program-by-program review to decide what U.S. aid programs could resume overseas, Marocco wrote.
Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press
