Around the world, every country or nation is very different. Some are more developed and have more world power, while others are underdeveloped and lack diplomatic power. This is the difference between the United States of America and many other countries. Using the diplomatic power of the United States, we created the United States Agency for International Development, also known as USAID. However, with recent actions from President Donald Trump, the agency has been dismantled. Why was it dismantled, and what did USAID do around the world?
USAID was established in 1961 based on an executive order given by John F. Kennedy. USAID was created to combat the Cold War and stop the spread of communism. At this point, communism was feared by the US government, and they needed to stop its influence as many countries became influenced by the Soviet Union. USAID combatted the influence of communism while helping people, therefore promoting democracy.
Since the Cold War, USAID has continued to administer foreign aid worldwide. Their goal is to assist countries facing disease or natural disasters. USAID does many things and anything it can do to help many different countries. For example, in 1989, USAID began working in Vietnam and helping citizens who were affected by the Vietnam War. After the war, Vietnam’s infrastructure was crushed, and families were displaced. With the help of USAID, Vietnam was offered support for rebuilding its economy and infrastructure. Medical treatment was offered to combat AIDS and HIV. USAID helped many countries and even improved many.
On the other hand, why was USAID dismantled under the Trump Administration? Well, around the United States, we pay taxes. We pay taxes to the government; some go to programs such as social security for retirement, but some other money is sent to the government. The government is then supposed to use this money to fund government programs such as healthcare and defense. Congress is responsible for creating a plan to divide these funds among different programs or services. In 2023, the US spent around $71.9 billion on foreign aid.
What was this amount of money used for? Under the Trump Administration, USAID was investigated, and the results showed that millions of dollars from taxpayers were being used to fund projects such as these– projects included sex changes and LGBT activism in Guatemala, which was equivalent to two million dollars, and $1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia.
Marco Rubio has been appointed acting administrator of USAID. Many employees were put on temporary leave and told to vacate their offices. On February 1st, employees opened the USAID website to find it shut down with a message revealing they were on temporary leave. As far as we know, USAID is not being dissolved but rather renovated. Over 90% of USAID’s operations have been frozen, and its future is uncertain.
