Jared Kushner
© Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner and the rest of the US delegation's meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister has been cancelled in what may be a response to the cutting of aid from Washington.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry was due to meet Kushner and his team on Wednesday in Cairo, but the sit-down was called off at the last minute after the Americans had already arrived.

On Tuesday, the US government cut almost $100 million in military and financial aid to Egypt, one of its biggest recipients, and delayed nearly $200 million more on the grounds that the Egyptian government was not doing enough to address the human rights situation in the country, US officials told media.

In a statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that the decision to cut aid was "a misjudgment of the nature of the strategic relations that binds the two countries over decades, and reflects the lack of understanding of the importance of supporting the stability and success of Egypt."

It also warned that withdrawing the aid could have "negative implications" on achieving mutual goals and interests.

Kushner, as well as deputy national security adviser Dina Powell and US envoy Jason Greenblatt, did, however, have their scheduled meeting with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi later in the day, according to local CBC TV network.

Kushner, Powell, and Greenblatt are on a tour of the Middle East as part of an effort to boost the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The cancellation of their meeting with Shoukry came immediately after the ministry released its statement, according to a copy of Shoukry's schedule shown to journalists.

The Egyptian government has been accused of human rights abuses and a heavy-handed approach to its Islamist problem by some observers, including within the US government. However, upon meeting with el-Sisi in April, Trump made no mention of human rights issues to his Egyptian counterpart.