In a sweeping foreign policy overhaul, the United States has dissolved the Agency for International Development (USAID), ending over six decades of global development work.
Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, announced the decision
in a statement on July 1.
USAID was founded in 1961 under the late President John
Kennedy and has long been the lead agency for US humanitarian and development
aid, overseeing programmes in global health, education, agriculture, democracy
support, and disaster relief across over 100 countries.
Rubio pegged the agency’s disbursement over the decades at
over $715 billion in inflation-adjusted spending.
President Donald Trump has been vocal in his criticism of
USAID’s essence, arguing that its funding should be redirected towards domestic
priorities.
When Elon Musk headed the department of government
efficiency (DOGE), he said Trump agreed to shut down USAID, as it was a
“drainpipe” of taxpayer funds.
Foreign assistance distributed by the agency typically makes
up less than one percent of the US government budget.
Rubio said USAID “fell well below” the standard.
The US secretary of state also cited non-reciprocity of
favours from its biggest aid recipients and growing anti-American sentiment as
reasons for a slash in assistance.
“For example, in 2023, sub-Saharan African nations voted
with the United States only 29 percent of the time on essential resolutions at
the UN despite receiving $165 billion in outlays since 1991. That’s the lowest
rate in the world,” Rubio said in the statement.
“Over the same period, more than $89 billion invested in the
Middle East and North Africa left the U.S. with lower favorability ratings than
China in every nation but Morocco.
“The agency’s expenditure of $9.3 billion in Gaza and the
West Bank since 1991, whose beneficiaries included allies of Hamas, has
produced grievances rather than gratitude towards the United States.
“The only ones living well were the executives of the
countless NGOs, who often enjoyed five-star lifestyles funded by American
taxpayers, while those they purported to help fell further behind.”
He said the leadership of the developing nations grew an
“addiction” to USAID’s charity-based model, sinking the agency.
“This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has
officially come to an end,” he added.
“Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a
foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests.”
He said this new approach would place the US in a stronger
position to counter China’s “exploitative aid model” and further its strategic
interests in key regions around the world.
“We will not apologize for recognizing America’s
longstanding commitment to life-saving humanitarian aid and promotion of
economic development abroad must be in furtherance of an America First foreign
policy,” he added.
“Foreign assistance programs that align with administration
policies will now be administered by the state department where they will be
delivered with more accountability, strategy, and efficiency.”
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