In America: Trump’s Shock Move, USAID Shut Down Amid Global Uproar
Kevin dietsch
In what has been an explosive start to the new Presidential administration, with executive orders, controversial confirmations, the renaming of centuries-old bodies of water, and threats of ethnic cleansing, the latest move from President Donald Trump has drawn ire from all sides of the political spectrum, discounting the MAGA wing. While President Trump and those around him in no way hid their intentions of significantly reducing the size and spending of the US government, the order of cessation of all activities from USAID was unexpected.
What is USAID?
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was established under President John F. Kennedy’s administration in the 1960s. Its purpose was to streamline the various foreign assistance programs the US was involved in following the tumultuous and war-filled decades of the 1940s and 1950s. In 2025, the organization functions as a bank of sorts, financing organizations that, in turn, have established programs ranging from raising awareness of diseases to vaccinating those in need to building or rebuilding schools.
President Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that the organization’s spending “IS TOTALLY UNEXPLAINABLE... CLOSE IT DOWN!" This would mean the immediate termination of over 10,000 workers in 60 countries around the globe. But – building schools, vaccinating children, and preventing the spread of venereal diseases – is not putting “America First,” per the White House.
The November Report & Its Recommendations
November 2024 saw the release of an audit of USAID, conducted by the Office of Inspector General. Appointed by President Biden and confirmed by the Senate, Inspector General Paul K Martin’s report provides a detailed analysis of USAID. The report reveals that the organizations’ net worth increased by more than $10 billion, mostly due to unspent money, rather than additional grants from the fed. However, the report also highlighted a need for improvements in several areas, including internal control over the calculation and recording of accrued expenses, suggesting a need for more automated processes. Simply put, Martin’s office identified the need for better and more detailed bookkeeping.
The report suggested the need for better systems to identify and analyze contracts to regulate the organizations that USAID does business with. These are organizations like the Catholic Relief Services, Chemonics, FHI 360, Development Alternatives Inc., and ABT Associates, the 5 highest recipients from USAID between 2013 and 2022. Of the 5, the CRS and FHI are the two non-profit organizations, the rest are for-profit entities.
If Trump’s plan of the sudden and immediate gutting of the aid agency goes through, rather than an organized and planned out tapering out, pending the court case that has already been filed, independent watchdogs have noted that US supervision of existing aid, be that physical or monetary, will stop immediately. This means that said aid could fall into the wrong hands, be that the Houthis, Hezbollah, or Hamas, without proper oversight from the US to prevent that from happening.
Why Does Trump Want To Re-Haul It?
However, the President claimed in an election rally, “I am the most pro-farmer president ever.” Enacting the termination of USAID would also mean the stoppage of their world-class famine detection services that use data analysis to predict which parts of the world will soon experience food shortages. The organization has also taken up activities that seek to help marginalized communities around the world, be they pro- LGBTQ+ organizations in Serbia or the promotion of EVs in Vietnam, much to the dismay of the new president.
Data Source can be found hereBut why is it that the US is the world’s biggest spender on International Development? Simply put, the world trades in US Dollars, meaning the US gets a cut of every trade deal between any two countries, and de-dollarization efforts have been threatened by sanctions and tariffs. The USAID and its international development fund have been used as a bargaining chip at times to ensure that countries adhere to the US’s rule of law. Most recently, the White House announced plans to stop a $500 million aid package to the Philippines as it felt the Asian archipelago was getting too close to China, the US’s geopolitical rival.
USAID & Foreign Meddling
While President Trump has made it categorical that agendas of social justice and rebuilding – things that are contrary to his political agenda – are unwelcome on America’s dime, he has alleged that USAID has done some far more nefarious foreign meddling. While this is in no way new, think of the hundreds of South American Coups that were either started or encouraged by the CIA; these claims are totally baseless.
In an interview with the disgraced former Fox News presenter, Tucker Carlson, who was accused of Sexual Harassment, Racism, and peddling Disinformation, equally disgraced former State Department employee Mike Benz, who has been accused of racism and peddling false information while under the government’s employ, reaffirms the president’s beliefs. Benz claims that the US “weaponized” rap music to ensure peaceful protests turned violent, the age-old racist trope that rap music somehow encourages violence, and that USAID was behind the regime change of former Bangladeshi PM, Sheikh Hasina.
What is the ground reality?
Speaking to the case of the Bangladeshi regime change, the student-led protests attributed their distrust in governance to rampant corruption, the makings of a kleptocracy, and suppression of dissidence. USAID’s efforts in the country apart, the critical point of inflection in this combative story revolves around the relationship of the new Bangladeshi PM and President Trump. Prime Minister Yunus, of Bangladesh has been openly critical of President Trump, going as far as to criticize his actions when talking of the 2020 elections, he said, "The U.S. election became a victim of the wrong politics, fueled by fear of religious, ethnic, and national differences," an election that President Trump insists to this day that he won.
Rhetorical politics aside, experts like Thor Halvorssen, founder of New York-based Human Rights Foundation, told the Associated Press, “Cutting funding to these essential efforts sends the wrong signal to dictatorships and undermines the brave individuals fighting for freedom, these particular investments should not just be restored — they should be prioritized.” To be clear, Halvorssen’s organization does not receive any money from the US.
US Congress set out just under $700 million in what they call “pro-democracy” efforts in certain parts of the world, namely Belarus, China, North Korea, and Venezuela, to name a few – leaders of such countries have usually been recipients of high praise of Trump. This begs the question – was USAID’s gutting meant to put America first? Or make further strides in currying favor with the strongmen dictators that President Trump aligns himself with?