Since returning to the Oval Office, President Donald Trump has executed a radical and brutal overhaul of United States foreign assistance, with consequences rippling across the developing world. An executive order signed on 20 January 2025 initiated a 90-day pause and subsequent termination of the vast majority of overseas aid programmes, marking a seismic shift in global humanitarian policy.
The Immediate Fallout: Programmes Terminated and an Agency Axed
Driven by the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, the Trump administration moved swiftly after the January order. More than 80 per cent of US overseas aid programmes were scrapped. The historic United States Agency for International Development (USAID), established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, was formally shuttered.
Data from the US aid tracking service, ForeignAssistance.gov, reveals the sheer scale of the reduction. In the first eleven months of 2025, US aid obligations plummeted to roughly $20 billion (£15bn), a stark contrast to the $82 billion (£61bn) committed throughout the entirety of 2024. UN figures corroborate this, showing a 75 per cent drop in American humanitarian aid year-on-year.
Human Cost: Lives at Risk from Africa to the UN
The human impact of these cuts has been immediate and severe. Nations like Sudan, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Somalia, which historically relied on the US for over 30% of their aid, have been left reeling. Reporting from the ground in Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Senegal documents the devastation of HIV services and critical contraception shortages, putting millions at risk.
Malaria prevention has been hampered, and the potential impact of new breakthroughs, like an HIV vaccine, has been drastically diminished. The response to humanitarian disasters in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria has faltered as funding for sanitation, shelter, and malnutrition vanished.
Furthermore, climate change adaptation efforts have been jeopardised. From villages in Ethiopia abandoned after catastrophic floods to Nairobi slums, communities are now squeezed between the climate crisis and the withdrawal of aid. Wildlife conservation programmes have also been crippled.
On the global stage, the US absence was a key factor in the disappointing outcome of the COP30 climate talks in Brazil. The nation has also slashed its UN humanitarian assistance pledge to a mere $2 billion, a fraction of the up to $17 billion it provided in prior years.
A Global Domino Effect and a New, Transactional Aid Model
Trump's "America First" policy has inspired similar actions among allies. The UK, Germany, and France are now significantly reducing their own aid budgets to boost defence spending. According to Oxfam, this represents the largest collective aid cut by G7 nations since 1960, with 2026 spending projected to be 26% lower than in 2024.
While traditional development aid has been gutted, a new, transactional model of American assistance is emerging. The administration is pivoting towards aligning foreign spending directly with US policy interests. Controversial "health compacts" with countries like Kenya and Nigeria are being proposed, potentially exchanged for health data or mining rights.
This new approach also favours strategic financial interventions over need-based aid, exemplified by a $20 billion (£15bn) currency-swap deal with Argentina under President Javier Milei. Additionally, the US Development Finance Corporation has been reauthorised with a massive $145 billion (£108bn) boost, aiming to fund infrastructure in middle-income countries.
A recent Congressional proposal to allocate around $50 billion (£37bn) in foreign assistance this financial year offers a glimmer of hope for the decimated aid sector. However, it faces an uncertain future, requiring President Trump's signature despite being significantly higher than his own $20 billion request. Many doubt it can reverse the profound damage already inflicted.
As Abby Maxman, President of Oxfam America, states: "We have run out of words to describe the depths of suffering... We are seeing years of progress unravel, and more children suffer and die preventable deaths because of these cuts." The landscape of global aid has been fundamentally, and perhaps permanently, reshaped.
