Trump on USAID: The End of American Soft Power 

Foreign Policy Brief #178 | By: Damian DeSola | February 12, 2025

Featured Photo From: wbur.org

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In the three weeks of Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States, he has singlehandedly stunted America’s ability to project soft power. Taking actions like ending most foreign aid and withdrawing from treaties like the Paris Climate Agreement, Trump’s America First isolationist policies will be devastating to the United States’ credibility and strength, and to the rest of the human race’s ability to remain safe, healthy, educated, and alive. One federal organization that is on the verge of being all but disbanded by the Trump administration is the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). 

USAID is the largest international aid organization, in dollars of funding, in the entire world. In 2023 it spent around $40 billion in its efforts to fend off disease, support democracies, provide food and water, educate, provide transportation, and a whole host of other forms of aid that prevent devastating societal collapse around the world. USAID has established world-class famine and disease detection systems that have saved countless lives. Through USAID, the American government has been able to demonstrate goodwill to the peoples of this world and has helped maintain a, more than otherwise, positive outlook of the United States. 

The amount USAID uses to do this work is about 0.33% of the US GDP; as a ratio, this spending is worth about 4.9% of the annual defense budget. It is this agency that the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE seek to shutter to reduce government spending. 

Why has the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE decided to go after USAID? In Trump’s words, the agency is apparently run by “radical lunatics,” and their spending on humanitarian aid is rife with “waste and abuse.” To quote Elon Musk, USAID is a “viper’s nest of radical left Marxists who hate America.” He also calls it a “criminal organization,” declaring “time for it to die.” 

Clearly, our government is in safe and rational hands. The true reasons for any actions against USAID can only be speculated. Likely, Trump and Musk see the agency’s work as a net loss, treating government spending as if it is a simple balance book. 

Without an act of Congress, USAID cannot be entirely shuttered. However, the Trump administration is considering moves to put USAID under the control of the State Department, where it can be closely monitored and controlled. As of February 6th, the Trump administration has fired nearly the entire staff of USAID, retaining only 290 of the more than 10,000 employees. 

In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Senate Democrats voiced concern over this proposal, saying that USAID is meant to be independent so it can quickly dispatch experts in an emergency without lengthy State Department approval. They also state apprehension about the activities of Musk’s DOGE agents accessing classified information without proper clearance. 

Analysis 

In terms of Making America Great Again, this is not a great start for the new administration. If Trump aims to stand up to China and make the United States “respected” again on the world stage, the policy of dismantling USAID is doing the exact opposite. Not everything can be solved by hard power, nor should it. It is distressing to see top Republicans unequivocally back policies that so obviously demolish the diplomatic soft power projection that the United States has used to retain its global standing while concurrently saving lives, all in the name of the vague notion of “America First.” 

Soft power is integral to a modern democratic nation and theoretically should be the first and most focused on resort to international affairs. First, hard power is the use of military and economic coercion and use against another country. This form of power is aggressive and escalatory, making it a favored tool of Trump. The contrasting soft power is a far more delicate, complex, and slow form of power that uses diplomacy, cultural values, and historical contexts, and seeks cooperation through credibility. USAID is one of the United States’ greatest forms of soft power, allowing us to better our international stance by helping others. Trump seems to rather see this form of power as weakness than playing the long-game, and has the ridiculous, and frankly contemptible, notion that only might make right. In terms of grand strategy, he is missing the greater picture. 

By stepping back in such a dramatic way, the gaps left by the United States will quickly be filled by rival powers. While Europe will attempt to pick up some of the slack, this is China’s unmistakable opportunity to step in as a savior. It is good that at least some nation will be there to prevent disease and famine, but the inherent autocratic nature of the Chinese Communist Party will undoubtedly use this newfound influence in a malign and exploitative fashion. Seeking loyalty, return on investment, access to resources, land, and a whole host of favors would not be uncharacteristic for the architects of the Belt and Road Initiative. In this regard, the United States is utterly at a loss due to these policies. 

Furthermore, the goal of earning some confounding goal of “respect” from other countries will quickly become clear to be as misguided as it will be unattained. The results of these policies will be that of the biblical four horsemen: famine, disease, war, and death. The role of USAID is to provide developmental aid to the impoverished and destitute. With the help of the United States, societies that would be otherwise on the brink have a helping hand. Without this, the immediate expectation should be massive outbreaks of disease, drops in world literacy rates, food shortages, resource wars, the collapse of democracies, and an uncountable loss of life. These harbingers of civilizational collapse will entirely be in the hands of the United States and its “devoutly Christian” leaders. Trump wants international respect, but now he will get nothing more than global disdain. 

USAID has been doing important work that has saved lives and showed that the US federal government could do something good in the world that does not involve sending or using bombs. If this trend of shuttering major institutions for the sake of “cost-cutting” continues, which it seems to be, the world will once again be at the whims of reactionaries and populists as it had been in the pre-World War II period. If there is anything you can do, it is to oppose this fall. Donate to charities, spread awareness about what is happening, protest, call your member of Congress, volunteer, vote, and do what you can do as a citizen as is your right. 

Engagement Resources 

• Brookings Institute commentary that goes further in-depth about the implications of shutting down USAID 
• NYTimes tracker of Trump’s major moves since taking office 
• World Food Programme’s HungerMap 
• A list of the top 15 largest international humanitarian organizations and their operations  

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