USAID is Dying—And the World Will Feel It

Demonstrators take part in a protest against Elon Musk and Tesla outside of a Tesla showroom, Saturday, March 01, 2025 in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

The Trump administration's gutting of the U.S. Agency for National Development, or USAID, threatens to unravel decades of progress and weaken the United States’s influence abroad. USAID, the leading government agency for international humanitarian development, focuses its efforts in four major spheres: economic development and agricultural improvement, population health and nutrition, environment and democratic reform. 

The Trump administration sent out a recent memo that has since been published on USAID's website, putting nearly all of its 4,700 full-time workers on paid administrative leave. USAID will also be forced to implement a “Reduction-in-Force” that will cut approximately 1,600 jobs from the agency. 

Since its inception in 1961, the agency has played a major role in global progress, and the Trump administration’s move to effectively castrate the organization is extremely disheartening. The drastic cuts to USAID’s workforce and funding not only undermine decades of humanitarian progress but also signal a retreat from the United States’ long-standing commitment to global development and stability.

In tandem with the dramatic reduction in USAID’s workforce, their funding has also been cut, and the effects will be felt globally. The administration has cut nearly $60 billion in federal aid and is cutting 90 percent of USAID’s global contracts. While Trump justified the dismantling of USAID with the ethos of putting the United States first, the cuts upend decades worth of foreign policy used to stabilize nations abroad. 

Despite the Trump administration’s claim that USAID puts the United States last, USAID has been integral to improving the United States’ economic development. As developing countries grow, they import more goods from the United States. Over the past decade, two-thirds of United States goods are exported to major USAID partner countries. Many United States industries depend on raw materials from countries that benefit from USAID programs. 

USAID programs in Africa help improve yields for cocoa production, which supports the United States’ chocolate industry. Rubber production in Indonesia, a key supplier for South Carolina’s tire industry, is also supported by USAID programs. USAID intervention has made it easier for Americans to expand their businesses abroad and reach new markets. 

USAID-funded clinics have also been integral in managing diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS throughout the African continent. Without them, these diseases will have a resurgence. 

Ukraine has been the largest recipient of USAID funds since Russia’s invasion in 2022, and the country depends on this funding for nearly every facet of daily life. This includes things like paying the salaries of emergency workers, providing seeds and fertilizer to farmers, and helping rebuild Ukraine’s power grid after Russian missile attacks. "Secret schools" in Afghanistan have also lost funding, which were set up to educate Afghan girls after the Taliban banned women from receiving any education beyond the 6th grade. Now, women in Afghanistan are at risk of being further disenfranchised from autonomy over their own lives.

The Trump administration’s reforms keep fewer than 300 directly hired/contracted workers on the job and calls nearly all USAID workers posted internationally home. These employees, along with an unknown number of international, locally hired workers, will continue only a small fraction of the agency’s programs that the Trump administration deems acceptable for the time being.

The assault on USAID is a part of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, led by Elon Musk's broader agenda of cutting federal spending. The U.S. spent roughly $68 billion on foreign aid last year, which accounted for less than 1 percent of the federal budget. If the Trump administration truly wants to make meaningful cuts to the Federal budget, USAID is a bizarre place to start. The gutting of USAID is a reckless retreat from global leadership that weakens the United States’ influence, economy, and moral standing in the world.