Washington: The president of the United States, Donald Trump, plans to merge the country its “America First” policy.
Trump has entrusted Elon Musk, the billionaire who directs his impulse to reduce the federal government, to supervise the project. On Sunday, Trump said Usaid had “been directed by a lot of radical crazy people, and we are taking them out”, while Musk called him “a criminal organization” without providing any evidence and said it was “the time to die.”
What is Usaid and how is it financed?
USAID was established in 1961 by Democratic President John F. Kennedy in the apogee of the Cold War with the aim of coordinating better foreign assistance, and a key platform of the United States foreign policy to counteract Soviet influence.
Now administers about 60% of foreign assistance from the United States and disbursed $ 43.79 billion in fiscal year 2023. According to a report of the Congress Service this month, its workforce of 10,000, approximately two thirds that serve the Foreigner, helped about 130 countries. USAID is funded by Congress, based on administration requests.
CRS said that USAID helps “countries and strategically important countries in the conflict; leads to the efforts of the United States to relieve poverty, disease and humanitarian need; and help the commercial interests of the United States in supporting growth economic of developing countries and the capacity of the construction of countries to participate in world trade. “
His main help receptors in 2023 were Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan and Syria.
How much does the United States spend and how does it compare?
In fiscal year 2023, the United States disbursed a total of $ 72 billion in attendance world Women in conflict areas until access to clean water, HIV/ AIDS treatments, energy security and anti -corruption work.
In recent years, according to a Brookings Institution report in September, American aid spending has been around 0.33% of GDP. It reached its maximum point of 3% of GDP in the 1950s with the Marshall Plan program to rebuild Europe after World War II. During the Cold War, it varied from 1% to a little less than 0.5%.
Although the United States provides more official governmental aid than any other country, its contribution as a percentage of national income was at the bottom of the list for rich countries in 2020, according to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In 2023, Norway headed the 1.09% list of gross national income, while the United States was delayed at 0.24%, together with Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Spain.
Is support for foreign bipartisan aid?
According to Brookings, Democratic Administrations and legislators have been historically more supportive than Republicans, but each postwar president, whether democratic or republican, has been a strong defender of foreign aid, apart from Trump.
He pointed out that the proposals of the Trump's first administration to reduce the United States International Affairs Budget in a third were rejected, as well as attempts to delay the parliamentary consideration of the supplementary legislation of foreign aid in 2024. And in a Bipartisan vote in June, 80% of the members of the House of Representatives led by Republicans rejected an amendment to eliminate foreign assistance from fiscal budget 2025.
Who has been running USAID?
Under former President Joe Biden, USAID was led by Irish-American diplomat Samantha Power, an self-proclaimed idealist who served as UN ambassador Bajo Barack Obama.
His main priorities under his March 2023 Policy framework were the climatic crisis, stopping the tide of authoritarianism and promoting inclusive economic growth and equal opportunities.
In an interview this month, Power highlighted the role of Usaid in the projection of soft power.
“The best testimony of USAID's contribution is the increase in propaganda supported by the republics of clothing and Russia that diffuses USAID and our work worldwide,” he said, using the initials of the official name of China, the Popular Republic of China.
Trump opposition and impact
In an executive order on January 20 that announces a 90 -day break in most foreign aid, Trump said the United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with US interests and, in many cases, antithetics to US values. “
“They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable internal relations and between countries,” he said.
In a memorandum, the administration urged USAID workers to join the effort to transform how Washington assigns in line with the “America First America” policy of Trump and threatened disciplinary action for ignoring orders.
The actions resolved the alarms of refugee camps in Thailand to the war areas of Ukraine, with humanitarian organizations and UN agencies that say they could face drastic forrales about their ability to distribute food, shelters and medical care.
A source with knowledge of Usaid's works said that bending it in the State Department would be a great deviation.
The USAID has been able to provide humanitarian assistance to countries with which Washington does not have diplomatic relations, including Iran and North Korea. This has sometimes helped build bridges, said the source, and the benefit could be lost if their operations were exclusively linked to political objectives.