Radio Free Asia has halted its Cantonese-language service after 27 years due to funding cuts by US President Donald Trump’s administration.

In a letter posted to its website on Monday, the Cantonese service said it would cease publishing news from Tuesday – the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China.

“Following funding cuts by the US government, the size of Radio Free Asia’s team has continued to shrink. Our Cantonese service… will stop updating news from tomorrow,” the Chinese-language letter read.

“The news on our website will become history and stay there indefinitely,” the letter added.

The letter also said there had been plans since last year to rename Radio Free Asia’s Cantonese service as “RFA HK,” following a huge surge in the Hong Kong audience since 2019, when the city was swept by large-scale pro-democracy protests and unrest.

“After Apple Daily, Stand News, and Hong Kong Citizen News disappeared, with self-censorship at mainstream media outlets in Hong Kong becoming increasingly common, the Cantonese service of Radio Free Asia became one of the news outlets that Hongkongers relied on,” the letter said.

But in March, Trump signed an executive order to defund the outlet’s parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which also funds news organisations such as Voice of America.