After threatening cut, US ups assistance to Jordan

AMMAN, Jordan — President Donald Trump has threatened to retaliate against aid recipients such as Jordan for having denounced his decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But on Wednesday, his top diplomat gave Jordan more money.

In a remarkably cordial reception that contrasted sharply with Vice President Mike Pence’s visit last month, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson signed an agreement that guarantees Jordan nearly $ 1.3 billion in annual assistance from the United States for the next five years.

The aid pact, an increase over the roughly $ 1 billion in current annual aid to Jordan, was all the more striking because the Trump administration has proposed eliminating much of America’s foreign assistance budget.

The increase partly reflected Jordan’s longtime role as an important partner in fighting extremism in the region and housing millions of refugees from the Syria war.

But it also appeared to show the value the administration places on Jordan regarding the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, even though Jordan was among the 128 members of the United Nations that voted to condemn the United States two months ago over Trump’s decision on Jerusalem, the contested holy city that Palestinians want part of as their future capital.

Trump and his U.N. ambassador, Nikki R. Haley, vowed back then to “take names” and remember how U. S. aid recipients had voted, implying their assistance would be cut.

When Pence visited Jordan in January, King Abdullah II gave him an unusually stern and public lecture about the Jerusalem decision.

“For us, Jerusalem is key to Muslims and Christians as it is to Jews,” Abdullah said. “It is key to peace in the region.”

With Tillerson, Jordanian officials were far less hectoring, as Abdullah kept his meeting with Tillerson private.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi of Jordan, who signed the aid agreement with Tillerson at a ceremony, referred to the Jerusalem decision only when asked, and briefly at that.