Which countries will Trump’s foreign aid suspension hurt most?

As part of his “America First” agenda, Trump temporarily halts almost all foreign aid after taking office last week, causing billions of dollars in global funding to dry up.

According to a statement from State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce, “President Trump declared unwaveringly that the United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money without no return for the American people.”

It is a moral imperative to evaluate and rebalance foreign aid on behalf of diligent taxpayers.

Aid organizations have warned that the decision by the world’s single largest donor will put lives in danger. In 2023, Washington disbursed $72bn in foreign aid across nearly 180 countries.

Over the next three months, &nbsp, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will review and take a call on whether “to continue, modify, or terminate programmes”, according to a State Department memo.

Last Friday, Rubio sent a cable to embassies worldwide to halt the US projects supporting health, education, development, security assistance and other efforts.

Emergency food programmes, like the ones used to help people suffering from a widening famine in war-torn Sudan, are exempt, and so is military aid to close US allies Israel and Egypt.

Rubio consented to more exemptions, which would allow for temporary funding for humanitarian programs that, among other things, provide life-saving medicines and food.

Rachel Bonnifield, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, told Al Jazeera that even “the most fervent advocates” of US aid could recognise that not all programmes work well and could be discontinued.

People who rely on the aid are now “very compromised positions where they might die” due to the abruptness of the implementation of the order, though.

“It’s not hyperbolic to say that if a child gets malaria]and] shows up to the clinic that used to be run by the USAID programme, that clinic doesn’t exist any more. It’s closed and they don’t get medicine for malaria, that child could die”, she explained.

What we know about the effects of the pause in foreign aid:

What happens when the aid is split up, and which nations receive it?

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) provided the bulk of its economic assistance in the year 2023, with Ukraine receiving the most at $ 14.4 billion.

The second-highest recipient, Jordan, received $770m in economic aid through USAID. Yemen and Afghanistan received $359.9m and $332m respectively.

The State Department received the most funding, followed by the Treasury ($2.17 billion), and other federal departments, including the Pentagon, which receive the most funding.

By sector, the most funding is given to economic development at $19bn. The second-highest funding, 16 billion dollars, is for humanitarian aid, which is 15.6 billion dollars.

The US provided $ 8.2 billion in military aid to its allies around the world, nearly half of which were Israel and Egypt.

How much of the US’s total aid goes to Israel and Egypt?

According to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by President Barack Obama, the US has pledged to provide Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid through 2028.

In response to Israel’s devastating conflict in the Gaza Strip, a Brown University Costs of War report claimed that an additional $ 17.9 billion was provided.

Since Israel’s founding in 1948, the US has given some $120bn in military assistance.

Since signing the Camp David Accords in 1978, Egypt has received $1.2 billion in military aid, making it the second-highest recipient of US military aid. Cairo became the first Arab nation to recognize Israel in this regard.

Since the 1978 Treaty, the US has also provided financial aid to Egypt.

Which initiatives receive the most US aid?

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which has received about $ 120 billion since its launch in 2003, is one of the programs that will be affected. The world’s largest health programme, since its launch by President George W Bush, PEPFAR is believed to have saved 25 million lives, including 5.5 million children, in at least 50 countries.

The Foundation for AIDS Research, AmfAR, criticized PEPFAR’s freeze, stating that “hundreds of thousands of people will be unable to immediately access safe, life-saving HIV treatment and other services.”

The Aurum Institute, a nonprofit that works in Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa in global health research on HIV and tuberculosis, said it was “obliged” to stop activities on US-funded projects.

“We express our deep regret for the inconvenience you are experiencing, and we apologize.” According to the organization, Aurum is “committed to working with other partners to find solutions as soon as possible” to the problems.

What is the reaction?

International aid organisations, including United Nations agencies, are scrambling to handle the situation, and some are rushing to cut expenditure.

Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, sent out an overnight email to employees ordering an immediate clampdown on expenditure.

In an internal email that The Guardian news outlet obtained, he wrote, “We must proceed very carefully over the next few weeks to mitigate the impact of this funding uncertainty on refugees and displaced people, our operations, and our teams.”

The UN refugee agency, which received $2.49bn in US funding last year, provides life-saving assistance to 122 million people across at least 100 countries.

Abby Maxman, head of Oxfam America, said last week that the funding freeze “could have life-or-death consequences” for families worldwide. The Trump administration is “abandoning the United States’ long-held bipartisan approach to foreign assistance,” Maxman said in a statement. “By suspending foreign development assistance, the Trump administration is threatening the lives and futures of communities in crisis.”

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres demanded on Monday that the US take into account additional exemptions to “ensure the continued delivery of critical development and humanitarian activities for the most vulnerable communities around the world.”

According to an unnamed former USAID official, at least 56 senior officials were on leave after attempting to help aid organizations deal with the funding freeze, request waivers to secure clean water, and continue monitoring bird flu.

The entire cadre of leaders (about 60 officials) who run USAID’s Bureau for Global Health, for example, was put on leave, according to the Politico news outlet.

Florida Republican Brian Mast, the new House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said the freeze was necessary to ensure that “appropriations are not duplicated, are effective, and are consistent with President Trump’s foreign policy”.

It’s uncertain whether the 90-day aid review will be extended or shortened, or whether programs will be discontinued or reinstated as Rubio announces additional waivers, according to Bonnifield of the Center for Global Development.

“At the end of a review period, basically 99 percent of programs are restored,” he said, or a much more extensive realignment of the portfolio. I think at this point, we really have no idea where this is headed”, she said.

How has US foreign aid changed over the years?

For many decades, Washington has provided loans, technical assistance, and direct budget support, particularly to developing nations.

The US used foreign aid as a “foreign policy tool,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an American think tank on foreign policy in 2023.

Following World War II’s devastation, the US established a Marshall Plan of $13 billion to aid the economic recovery of Western European countries. Following Tokyo’s defeat in the second world war, Washington also contributed to the reconstruction of Japan and the reform of its political structures.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the US committed $4bn in humanitarian assistance to provide vaccines to “92 low and middle-income countries”.

Bangladesh’s recent freeze has had an impact on US economic aid as Bangladesh recovers from the bloody uprising that ended its prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2023. Last year, Washington paused more than $95m in assistance to Georgia over a law that was dubbed anti-democratic.

“I think these pauses may end up changing the relationship other countries have with US assistance”, Bonnifield explained.

Source: Aljazeera