The administration of United States President Donald Trump has ordered nearly all directly-hired staff of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to be placed on leave as part of the Republican’s drive to radically shrink the government.

USAID said on Tuesday that all direct hire personnel would be put on leave from Friday, apart from “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs”.

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USAID personnel posted overseas will be recalled from their postings within 30 days, the agency said in a statement on its website.

The aid agency said it would consider case-by-case exceptions and extensions based on “personal or family hardship, mobility or safety concerns, or other reasons”.

“For example, the Agency will consider exceptions based on the timing of dependents’ school term, personal or familial medical needs, pregnancy, and other reasons. Further guidance on how to request an exception will be forthcoming,” the statement said.

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“Thank you for your service.”

USAID employs more than 10,000 people, about two-thirds of whom are stationed overseas, according to the Congressional Research Service.

USAID’s announcement comes as the Trump administration is considering abolishing the agency and subsuming its functions into the US Department of State.

Asked by a reporter on Tuesday if he was preparing to “wind down” the agency, Trump said, “I think so.”

On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that he was serving as acting administrator of USAID.

USAID, which disbursed more than half of Washington’s $72bn foreign aid budget in 2023, has become a prime target of the cost-cutting drive spearheaded by tech billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has called USAID a “criminal organisation“, without substantiation, and claimed the agency is a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America”.

Critics have accused Trump and Musk of acting beyond their authority, arguing that dismantling USAID through executive action is unconstitutional as the agency’s status was established by an act of Congress.