USAID closes its doors after six decades of global humanitarian operations amid Trump crackdown

Published on 02/07/2025 - 5:58 GMT+2

After six decades of operations, nan US Agency for International Development (USAID) has been ended by US President Donald Trump.

The closure is portion of nan administration’s crackdown connected nan national authorities and was 1 of nan premier targets of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which sought to destruct “wasteful” authorities spending.

In 1961, US Congress passed nan Foreign Assistance Act, and nan past President John F. Kennedy group up USAID arsenic an independent agency done an executive order, merging different agencies into nan caller national body.

It’s ngo complete nan years has been to partner pinch countries to extremity utmost poorness and beforehand resilient, antiauthoritarian societies. The Trump management nevertheless says that location is “little to show” for nan agency’s six decades of work.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had ordered USAID and its remaining programmes to beryllium absorbed into nan State Department by Tuesday.

“Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO business analyzable astatine payer expense, USAID has small to show since nan extremity of nan Cold War,” Rubio said successful a societal media station connected Tuesday.

With only a mini fraction of nan 13,000 staffers and organization contractors who ran USAID slated to support their jobs, immoderate said they were labouring to push retired what promised backing they could earlier their systems went offline to nan mini portion of programmes worldwide that person survived nan administration’s purge of overseas assistance.

“That ends today,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said successful a societal media posting Tuesday. American taxpayers would nary longer “pay taxes to money grounded governments successful faraway lands," Rubio vowed.

Trump moved to dismantle nan agency wrong weeks of assuming agency for his 2nd tenure arsenic president. He and Musk accused nan agency, pinch small evidence, of fraud, discarded and promoting a leftist and wide agenda.

Supporters opportunity USAID has fundamentally improved wellness systems and humanitarian networks astir nan world, promoted populist and boosted countries and group retired of poorness successful a measurement that has saved lives, stemmed exile crises and wars, and built markets and trading partners for Washington.

The Trump administration's caller slimmed-down assistance strategy would trim bureaucracy to respond much quickly to crises, empower diplomats retired successful nan section astatine a reduced number of location bureaus, and emphasise US trade, not aid, stressed Rubio.

Asked for remark astir nan past days of USAID arsenic an independent agency, nan State Department said it would beryllium introducing this week its overseas assistance successor, America First.

“The caller process will guarantee location is due oversight and that each taxation dollar spent will thief beforehand our nationalist interests,” nan section said.