The US Agency for International Development (USAID) funding cuts, an undertaking of the new US
administration, are creating a global aid funding crisis, affecting over 120 million vulnerable people in places all over the world. Hours after Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2025, he ordered a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign development assistance programs in order to conduct a review. The US administration has since stated it would eliminate more than 90% of USAID’s foreign aid contracts and retract 60 billion US Dollars worth of overall assistance around the world. While the court systems are trying to block some cuts. Whether a food security initiative in Zimbabwe which provides help for over 74 000 people, a program to combat sexual exploitation of children in Romania and many HIV projects in countries in Africa, the immediate effect of budget cuts is the collapse of many systems that were in place for years. Malaria prevention, HIV and TB treatment, programmes against malnutrition and infrastructural projects have come to a grinding halt. Additionally to direct USAID projects, a plethora of systems supported by USAID, especially food distribution schemes and emergency relief, are on the brink of collapse.

In a recent example of direct consequences of the budget cuts, Myanmar faces a humanitarian crisis on a scale beyond imagination after a catastrophic earthquake. This crisis is exacerbated by the withdrawal of USAID: in 2024, the organization spent 240 million US Dollars on humanitarian assistance to the country – making up one-third of all multilateral humanitarian help in the country. The complete liquidation of USAID was announced on the 28th of March, the same day that the earthquake hit. Over 2000 people have died (status 31.03) and 4000 have been injured. Without large-scale intervention, the risk of infection heightens and the likelihood of finding survivors slumps: humanitarian assistance is granted primarily by China and India at the moment, and is doubtlessly not enough.

The immediate impacts of the sudden closure of USAID have also included US employees suddenly
having to uproot their lives in foreign countries and return to the USA. Further, the dismissal of local USAID employees affects the economy in many low-income countries, as they now cannot afford to visit restaurants or buy the things they bought before. Therefore, the decision of the US administration has very far-reaching consequences, even affecting entire economies. Politically, the executive order has been justified by asserting that the US American’s tax money has no business being distributed to other countries while the US faces its own economic crisis. Despite it being true that this is a political decision that can be made by the administration, the fact that the budget cuts were conducted effectively overnight has been interpreted as highly unethical, since other agencies or national governments cannot fill the financial gaps. The proceeding has not only been criticised by many worldwide – the US judicial system has been releasing orders to halt or slow down the closure of USAID. Questions have also been raised whether the president has the legal authority to dismantle the agency, since it was established by an Act of Congress. However, the suspected unconstitutionality of the US administration’s actions has been ignored by the executive wing, leading to the questionability of the state of the rule of law in the USA today: an alarming development.