WHO HAS BEEN RUNNING USAID?
Under former President Joe Biden, USAID was run by Irish-American diplomat Samantha Power, a self-professed idealist who served as UN ambassador under Barack Obama.
Its top priorities under its March 2023 Policy Framework were the climate crisis, stemming the tide of authoritarianism, and promoting inclusive economic growth and equal opportunities.
In an interview this month, Power highlighted the role of USAID in projecting US soft power.
“The best testament to USAID’s contribution is the surge in PRC-backed and Russian-backed propaganda maligning USAID and our work around the world,” she said, using the initials of China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.
TRUMP OPPOSITION AND IMPACT
In a Jan 20 executive order announcing a 90-day pause in most of foreign aid, Trump said the US “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values”.
“They serve to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries,” it said.
In a memo, the administration urged USAID workers to join the effort to transform how Washington allocates aid in line with Trump’s “America First” policy and threatened disciplinary action for ignoring the orders.
The actions rang alarm bells from refugee camps in Thailand to Ukraine war zones, with humanitarian organisations and UN agencies saying they could face drastic curbs on their ability to distribute food, shelter and healthcare.
A source with knowledge of USAID’s workings said folding it into the State Department would be a big departure.
USAID has in the past been able to provide humanitarian assistance to countries with which Washington has no diplomatic relations, including Iran and North Korea. This has sometimes helped build bridges, the source said, and the benefit could be lost if its operations were purely tied to political objectives.
