The president of IST, Rogério Colaço, told Lusa that he received the communication of the cancellation on the 5 March, of the programme called "American Corners" with "immediate effect", and, on the same day, an inquiry with "quite inappropriate questions" about whether IST collaborated or not, or was cited or not in accusations or investigations involving terrorist associations, cartels, human and drug trafficking, or organisations that promote mass immigration.

"Técnico responded that it would not respond to the questionnaire because it was not appropriate for a public higher education institution to be subject to public and legal scrutiny in a democratic country that is a member of the European Union", stated Rogério Colaço.

According to the president of IST, the communication of the cancellation of the programme, followed by a questionnaire, cites a determination issued by the US State Department.

In Portugal, "American Corners", financed by the US government and which the US Embassy in Lisbon describes as "information and culture centers", are six and all operate in university institutions.

In addition to IST, the universities of the Azores, Aveiro, Porto (Faculty of Arts), Lisbon (Faculty of Arts) and Nova de Lisboa (Faculty of Science and Technology) have these spaces.

At IST, "American Corners" had been operating for more than ten years and, according to Rogério Colaço, promoted lectures, meetings and "dissemination as well as scientific activities", whereby annual financing was around 20 thousand euros.

The director of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Lisbon (FLUL), Hermenegildo Fernandes, told Lusa that he received the same questionnaire, which left him astonished by the "scale of the shamelessness" of the questions, namely about "climate agendas", whether the institution had "contacts with communist and socialist parties" or "relations with the United Nations, the People's Republic of China, Iran and Russia" and what "it did to protect women from gender ideologies".

The faculty also chose not to respond to the questionnaire, noting that "its dependence is on the scientific policies of Portugal and the European Union", said the director of FLUL, without clarifying whether the "American Corners" programme was cancelled or not for the faculty, which has an "American space" sharing nearby facilities with the Confucius Institute, an official Chinese entity that promotes the country's culture and language.

Contacted by the Faculty of Science and Technology of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, the institution's management told Lusa, without further details, that the "American Corner" is "an annual project that will end in September". "We are evaluating whether or not to apply to continue the project," the college added in a brief statement.

Lusa was unable to obtain clarification from the universities of Porto, Aveiro and the Azores.

"We have excellent relations with all six 'American corners' and we will continue to collaborate on a series of programmes and initiatives that promote our common goals," said the spokesperson for the US embassy in Lisbon, Marie Blanchard, without directly responding to a question from Lusa, but praising that the American spaces "demonstrate the unparalleled power of the United States as an economic and innovation leader".

Lusa asked the embassy whether, following the cuts announced by the Trump administration to funding for universities and scientific agencies, the "American Corner" programme would be affected and in what ways.

According to the website of the United States Embassy in Portugal, there are more than 600 "American spaces" in more than 140 countries and they are located, namely, in universities, shopping centers, libraries and embassy facilities.