The Trump administration has frozen a $1.8 billion fund earmarked to counter the weaponisation of global finance, leaving British diplomats scrambling to assess the implications for joint efforts to protect the international system from hostile state actors.
Treasury officials in Washington confirmed the decision late on Thursday, citing a review of foreign aid spending as part of the president’s “America First” agenda. The fund, formally known as the Global Anti-Weaponisation Initiative, was launched in 2022 as a transatlantic partnership to monitor and disrupt attempts by countries like Russia and Iran to use financial tools, including trade finance and debt markets, for coercive purposes.
For Britain, which has contributed £400 million to the initiative and hosted its London-based taskforce, the halt strikes at the heart of a strategy that relied heavily on US intelligence and legal firepower. “We cannot go it alone,” a senior Foreign Office source told the Guardian, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This raises serious questions about the durability of US commitments, not just on this fund but on broader security guarantees.”
The freeze has already triggered a pause in several operations, including a joint probe into Chinese-linked firms accused of evading sanctions through shell companies in Dubai and a plan to cap Russia’s access to insurance markets. British officials now fear that assets and data shared with US agencies could be left in limbo, and that allies may see the UK as a less reliable partner if it cannot deliver US backing.
Downing Street was said to be “deeply disappointed” by the decision, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson confirming that discussions with the White House would continue over the weekend. But the prime minister faces a delicate balancing act: avoid a public row with a volatile US president while signalling to other allies that Britain remains steadfast.
The move comes at a time when the cost of living crisis in Britain is squeezing household budgets, and critics question the wisdom of bankrolling foreign initiatives at all. “Our own people are struggling to heat their homes and this government is handing billions to a US administration that can’t be trusted,” said a spokesperson for the Campaign for a Fair Economy. Yet foreign policy experts warn that the real cost of the freeze could be far greater in the long run, as adversaries seize on the vacuum.
For the industrial towns of the North, where steelworks and textile mills once relied on stable export markets, the decision reinforces a sense that the old world order is crumbling. “We’ve seen jobs vanish to overseas competition, and now the alliance that was supposed to protect us is falling apart,” said Angela Thorpe, a retired union organiser from Sheffield. “It’s the same story for the working class: promises made, promises broken.”
The freeze is not a cancellation, and US officials have indicated the fund could be revived after a 90-day review. But British diplomats are already drafting contingency plans, from scaling back ambitions to seeking alternative funding from the EU and Japan. The next few weeks will test whether the special relationship still holds any meaning beyond the headlines.
