In Washington, the headquarters of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was closed on Monday (3), with employees being informed by email to stay home.
The international aid agency is the target of Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to reform the federal government. Trump and his allies have said that the agency, created by Congress as an independent body, is openly partisan. Democrats have rejected this claim and say that Trump does not have the authority to dismantle the agency.
Trump expressed his disdain for the agency and its mission to provide foreign aid during a question-and-answer session with reporters on Sunday night (2).
“It has been run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we are getting them out of there.”
USAID employees, most of whom are career civil servants, received an email shortly after midnight informing them that they should not report to the office in Washington, according to several sources familiar with the matter.
Thousands of personal service contractors and civil servants lost access to USAID’s email systems overnight.
The sudden chaos left employees struggling for answers, as they received no information, according to officials. Contractors, who travel with diplomatic passports and speak on behalf of the agency, need to receive 15 days’ notice before a contract termination, but this did not happen.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), under Elon Musk’s leadership, wanted to gain access to USAID’s security systems and personal files, three sources said, which eventually happened.
“We were officially informed that the US State Department now has access to all our internal documents and our entire set of files, documents, everything — all our systems,” said a USAID employee.
Democratic congressional officials protested against Trump’s effort to dissolve USAID.
“This is a clear prerogative of Congress to create, dissolve agencies, not the executive, and you cannot simply undo by (executive order) something that is in statute,” one of them told CNN.
“There was a justification for creating AID, the development agency, as its own independent agency. Because it is its own specialty or specialized area of work,” explained another. “It’s a large area of work that really requires its own type of leadership and processes and is not just related to the issue of national security at any specific moment, but is critical for building relationships and long-term capacity in areas like global health, which protects Americans.”
What is USAID?
In an effort led by then-President John F. Kennedy, USAID was established as part of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
According to the official US government website, USAID is the “primary US agency for extending assistance to countries recovering from disasters, trying to escape poverty, and engaging in democratic reforms.”
In fiscal year 2023, the US disbursed $72 billion in assistance worldwide, covering areas from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security, and anti-corruption work.
USAID provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024 and has a team of over 10,000 people in the field.
Which countries received the most aid?
In 2023, Ukraine received the most — $14.4 billion from USAID.
The second largest beneficiary, Jordan, received $770 million in economic aid through USAID. Yemen and Afghanistan received $359.9 million and $332 million, respectively.
USAID is not the only US agency disbursing foreign aid, but it is the largest, with a budget of $42.45 billion, followed by the State Department ($19 billion).
What criticisms does USAID receive?
Criticism of the agency ranges from its foreign policy agenda to its inefficiency.
In 2014, USAID was accused of secretly creating a “Cuban Twitter” called ZunZuneo to undermine the Cuban government. It has also been criticized for its clandestine nature.
In 2023, the president of Mexico asked Joe Biden to prevent USAID from funding groups hostile to his government, according to a letter presented to reporters, echoing previous Mexican criticisms of US interventionism.
Then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador did not specify which Mexican groups the US should stop funding, but he accused several media organizations of being part of a conservative movement against his government.
“The US government, specifically through USAID, has been funding organizations openly against the legal and legitimate government that I represent for some time,” he said in the letter. “This is clearly an interventionist act, contrary to international law and the relations that should prevail between free and sovereign states.”
What about the Future?
For now, Trump has not made any official announcement that USAID will be closed.
However, many fear that the end of US aid could harm Washington’s allies — and create a vacuum that its enemies could happily try to fill.
Eastern Europe, for example, has been an old geopolitical battleground where the interests of Western foreign policy often collide with those of Moscow or Beijing.
China’s influence in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa has been growing, and it has become an increasingly important trading and investing partner in recent years, while the US cuts aid.
In October, the China Development Bank (CDB) announced that it had provided about $160 billion to help finance hundreds of projects across Latin America. Sub-Saharan Africa received the most US aid in 2023, but China is increasing its presence there by providing competitive assistance.
A potential closure of USAID creates even more space for China to expand its power.
Sources: CNN and Al Jazeera