President Trump has ordered the freezing of most of the US foreign aid for 90 days in unrest programs that fight hunger and deadly diseases, running clinical experiences and seeks to provide millions of displaced people around the world.
The United States Agency for International Development, or the United States Agency for International Development, is the main government organization that provides humanitarian aid, such as food, medical assistance and disaster relief. It struck the most difficult to freeze.
Mr. Trump accused the Agency for the Corruption and Fraud, without providing evidence. The billionaire Illon Musk, who was working on reducing federal budgets and programs, was on the Internet from the “U.S. Feeding the International Development Agency in wood”.
The Trump administration ordered thousands of agency’s workers to return to the United States from abroad, put them on an administrative vacation indefinitely and change the agency’s supervision to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
How much external aid provided by the United States?
In total, the United States spent approximately $ 72 billion on foreign assistance in 2023, which includes spending by the United States Agency for International Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and programs run by agencies such as the Peace Corps.
As a percentage of its economic production, the United States – which has the largest economy in the world – offers much lower foreign aid than other developed countries.
The United States Agency for International Development spent about 38 billion dollars on health services, disaster relief, anti-poverty and other programs in the fiscal year 2023-about 0.7 percent of the federal budget. In 2021, before the war in Ukraine, it made up 0.4 percent.
Who are the beneficiaries?
The freezing of Mr. Trump to US foreign aid does not apply to supporting weapons for countries such as Israel and Egypt. Food assistance is supposed to be exempt, but many of these programs have suffered due to unrest in government payment systems.
In 2023, last year for which full data is available, Ukraine, which was waging a war against Russia since Moscow’s extensive invasion in February 2022, received $ 16.6 billion, and is the most American aid in any country or region. The largest part of this went to economic development, followed by humanitarian aid and security.
Israel-which was attacked by gunmen led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, received a 16-month war in Gaza-the second highest amount of American assistance: $ 3.3 billion in 2023, mainly for security.
How is the money spent?
US foreign aid can be organized as direct financial assistance to countries through NGOs; Military support food and medical aid; Or technical experience.
External aid can be a form of soft power, as it serves the strategic interests of the state, strengthening allies and helping to prevent conflicts.
In the case of the American Agency for International Development, the money went towards humanitarian aid, development assistance, direct budget support in Ukraine, peacebuilding in Somalia, monitoring diseases in Cambodia, vaccination programs in Nigeria, preventing HIV in Uganda and helping mother health in Zambia. The agency also helped contain large outbreaks of Ebola, memorization programs and the funded environment.
Unlike Mr. Trump’s claim, US money was not used to send a condom to Gaza for use by Hamas, says health officials. in statement At the end of last month, the international medical corps said that it had received more than $ 68 million from the United States Agency for International Development since October 2023 for its work in the pocket, but “funding has not been used to buy or distribute a condom.”
Instead, the group said, the money was used to operate two field hospitals, treat and diagnose malnutrition, hand over more than 5,000 children and perform 11,000 surgeries.
Why was the freezing request?
For years, conservative critics questioned the value of US foreign aid programs.
Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said in the answer to three simple questions. Modern statement. “Do America make more secure? Do America make stronger? Do America make more prosperous?”
The Trump administration and its allies in Congress argue that stopping external aid is necessary to investigate any waste. Many of their claims are misleading or lacking context.
Mr. Rubio, from Speak previously to support the agencyand Blame for its employees For “a decision to be a global charitable institution in some way separate from the national interest.”
However, he insisted that the acquisition was “not related to getting rid of external aid.” He said During a recent interview from Fox News“We have the arrangement of the rebellion” at the agency, adding that the United States Agency for International Development was “completely unaware.”
With the spread of organizations around the world, the Trump administration has transformed the gears. Mr. Rubio announced that “life -saving humanitarian assistance” can continue, but return will be “temporary.”
But by that time, hundreds of senior officials and workers who were helping to distribute American aid were The shooting has already been launched Or put on vacation, and many assistance efforts remain paralyzed.
What are the effects of freezing aid?
The immediate disorders of the freezing of foreign aid to Mr. Trump have extended through healthcare, security and humanitarian care programs around the world. Long -term consequences can reshape global health, research and political stability in many countries.
health: Many global clinical experiences depend on the financing of the United States Agency for International Development. The sudden stopping matter has left thousands of people in weak medical cases without care, and without any system in force to monitor the harmful effects.
Doctors are now facing a legal and ethical dilemma: compliance with the freezing of Trump or risk harm to patients.
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In South Africa, the researchers forced the closure of the experience of preventing HIV, leaving women with experimental cultivation within their bodies and without continuous medical supervision.
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In Uganda, the children registered in the tuberculosis treatment experience were cut off from potential drugs to save life.
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In Bangladesh, the cholera treatment experience has been abandoned, leaving patients who have no plan for the following steps.
The damage is doubled by Mr. Trump’s announcement that the United States will withdraw from the World Health Organization, which then announced the cost reduction measures.
protection: In Syria, the executive order is threatened with an American program that supports the security forces inside a notorious camp, known as the Hall family, in the Syrian desert that carries tens of thousands of members of the Islamic State and their families, according to Syrian and American officials.
stability: American aid is 15 percent of economic production in South Sudan, 6 percent in Somalia and 4 percent in the Central African Republic, according to Charlie Robertson, an economist specialized in Africa. The American ambassador to Mozambique, Mr. Rubio, told the US International Development Agency discounts to lead to a “great weakness” in Africa.
Climate and Immigration: Several US International Development Agency programs have focused on helping people in poor countries to overcome the harsh weather caused by climate change, in the hope that it will reduce the pressure of migration to the United States.
What is the reaction to Trump Trump?
Democratic lawmakers said that the moves to dismantle the US Agency for International Development or merge them with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is illegal.
On Thursday, Niqaman, Niqam, has filed a lawsuit on Thursday that the reduction of employees and the abolition of international aid contracts was unconstitutional and violated the separation of powers. He argued that the US Agency for Taxism could not be not binding without Congress approval.
Friday afternoon, Judge Karl Nichols of the US Provincial Court of Colombia A temporary order to temporarily stop the administrative leave of 2,200 employees of the United States Agency for International Development and a plan to withdraw all external workers in the agency within 30 days.
The agency funded election control groups, anti-corruption monitoring and independent news outlets-exactly the type of supervision hated by authoritarian leaders. The leaders in Russia, Hungary, and El Salvador welcomed the Trump administration against the United States Agency for International Development
Nayb Bokil, President of El Salvador, who embraced the tactics of a strong man to eliminate gang violence, He said in a post on x The agency’s funds “were transferred to opposition groups, and NGOs with political business schedules and destabilization movements.”
