U.S. International Aid on the Chopping Block

Feb 17, 2025

U.S. foreign aid programs were suspended by Donald Trump. He withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO), and he abruptly closed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on February 1.

Politicians make a big deal about this agency, which actually has a small budget. USAID has gotten between 0.7% and 1.4% of total federal spending in recent decades, or between 20 billion and 77 billion dollars per year out of a budget of trillions. The agency employed around 4,675 people, about as many as only one big hospital or factory, to manage a range of programs in 177 countries.

The U.S. spends more in total dollars on foreign aid than other countries do. But it spends much less as a percent of the whole economy, the gross domestic product. U.S. foreign aid represents 0.24% of the economy, about the same percent spent by Spain or the Czech Republic.

Politicians say this aid is altruistic. But most of it is spent funding foreign militaries like Ukraine, Israel, and Egypt. And often the aid comes with the requirement that the money is spent buying goods and services from U.S. corporations. So this aid is a way to influence other countries’ governments and to reshape their economies. International aid has been used this way since it was started during the Cold War. But some of this aid money does help relieve the conditions of people. Cutting this would be a catastrophe for them.

Presenting this aid as a donation to make sure that poor counties become rich is a lie and a scam. But the U.S. uses this myth, not only to control people in other countries, but also to divert the discontent of some voters here against others, and to try to force public servants to obey.