AFSC does not accept U.S. government funding, but the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle USAID will have a devastating impact on our partners around the world as well as the humanitarian community as a whole. Photo: AFSC/Gaza
Within days of taking office, the Trump administration ordered a freeze of all foreign assistance, except military aid and special highly militarized emergency aid that goes to Israel and Egypt. On Feb. 3 the administration ordered the closure of the Washington D.C. headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and is now threatening to permanently shutter the agency. Vital and lifesaving work around the world has ground to a halt.
The impact has been immediate and severe: soup kitchens closing in Sudan, health clinics shuttering in Haiti, and essential programs halting across Latin America, the Middle East, and more.
None of this is in the interest of the United States.
USAID was established 60 years ago to further U.S. interests through foreign aid. Since then, the independent agency has worked around the world to promote economic growth and encourage stability while advancing the national security, political, and economic interests of the United States. Foreign aid is a tool that has saved countless lives, helped prevent and resolve conflict, and created partnerships. All of this helps increase international stability—at a relatively minor cost to the U.S.
While this “soft power” approach is far better than weapons and wars, it is not without problems. U.S. foreign assistance is also a clear tool for extending U.S. foreign policy and influence. It is used to maintain a position of global dominance in a world where the U.S is competing with key rivals, including China and Russia.
For these reasons, the American Friends Service Committee, where I work, does not take U.S. government funding. As a Quaker organization working for peace and justice, we often find ourselves at odds with the approaches taken by the U.S. government. Refusing U.S. government funding allows us to critique U.S. policy with integrity when needed.
But the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle USAID will have a devastating impact for AFSC’s partners around the world as well as the humanitarian community as a whole. Civil society organizations in many of the world’s most fragile and conflicted locations rely on U.S. aid to carry out their peacebuilding, humanitarian, and human rights work. International aid organizations like Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, Save the Children, and more face severe budget cuts, staff layoffs, and the end of work in areas facing crises. The administration’s decision puts countless lives at risk. If it is not reversed quickly, the impacts could be felt for months, years, even decades.
Despite the administration’s claims, freezing foreign assistance funding is not about saving money. The total U.S. foreign affairs and aid budget is around $56 billion dollars, a tiny fraction of all U.S spending. Even with foreign aid now on the chopping block, Congress is pushing for as much as $200 billion in additional Pentagon spending. The boost would push the U.S. discretionary military budget to well over $1 trillion dollars per year. That would give the Pentagon nearly twice as much money as the government invests in all other domestic needs combined—including education, science, the environment, agriculture, infrastructure, and foreign aid. All this money continues to flow to the Pentagon even after it failed its seventh audit in a row. Meanwhile, peacebuilding, human rights, economic development, and diplomacy are being cut to pay for unneeded weapons systems and line the pockets of military contractors.
Increased Pentagon spending at the expense of foreign aid makes us less safe. In the absence of foreign assistance and diplomatic engagement, the military becomes the only tool left for addressing foreign policy challenges. We cede soft power tools and the ability to influence through economic and governance support to both allies and rivals on the international stage. We give up early warning systems and well-proven tools for stopping conflict before it starts.
The justification for more military spending is the threat of Russia and China and the claim that the U.S. needs to be ready to fight a two-front war against both rivals. But military confrontation as a path forward should be unthinkable. Armed conflict with either Russia or China—both nuclear powers—would result in unimaginable destruction.
Threats and military confrontation will never lead to security. Ending foreign aid while limiting diplomacy cedes the only other tools of influence that the U.S. has at its disposal. Right now, China is providing billions of dollars in development funding to countries across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. Now all that the U.S. has to offer as a counter to China in these same countries are weapons sales and military support.
We don’t just need a resumption of foreign assistance; we need a radical rethinking of how we approach international relations. We won’t win friends through violence. The rest of the world will never accept U.S leadership if they’re forced to accept it while staring at the end of a gun.
Instead of cutting foreign aid, the U.S. should increase spending on diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and economic development, funded by cuts to unsustainable military spending. A more peaceful and secure world can be realized through diplomacy, direct engagement, joint ventures, and support for addressing global needs. By lifting up others, we will also lift up ourselves. This is how the U.S. could create real safety and live up to the values that it says it holds dear.
