Here’s what foreign aid looks like 60 days after the end of USAID
On June 30, British medical journal The Lancet published its findings on the consequences of the Trump administration’s cuts to U.S. foreign aid programs and elimination of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The authors projected around 14 million excess preventable deaths worldwide over a 4.5-year period as a result of those cuts.
At the same time, the authors concluded that similar previous U.S. aid efforts had saved around 91 million lives worldwide over the previous two decades.
USAID costs and cuts
Some USAID programs were remarkably efficient, saving millions or tens of millions of human lives while costing as little as $6 per year per U.S. household, according to a former senior official. Most of those programs had enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress as recently as January 2025, just days before President Donald Trump was sworn into office for his second term.
But in the days and weeks following the inauguration, the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) accused USAID of widespread waste, fraud and abuse of funds. U.S. foreign aid quickly became politicized, and USAID became the first high-profile target of the DOGE-era budget cuts. On Feb. 3, Elon Musk boasted on X that he had “spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.”
The administration’s efforts to downsize and ultimately eliminate USAID took months to move through both the federal courts and Congress before coming to fruition.
Then, on July 1, the day after The Lancet released its findings, the Trump administration formally ended USAID.
Budget cuts around the globe
The United States was not the only country cutting down on foreign aid. The United Kingdom, Switzerland and Germany, among others, also announced a scaling down of their own foreign assistance budgets, according to ABC News. And the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office reported that $1.4 billion of its own funding had been cut or placed on hold, leaving nearly 12 million displaced refugees without support, as financial support for humanitarian aid collapsed around the globe.
Food security
Since July 1, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has started airdropping food and humanitarian aid into South Sudan, hoping to reach a vulnerable population no longer supported by USAID.
That operation follows reports of previously allocated U.S. aid sitting unused in warehouses, including at least 60,000 metric tons of food as of early August, according to The Washington Post.
U.S. officials say that they’ve approved a grant for the United Nations to distribute around 12,000 metric tons of that food, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to reassure both lawmakers and reporters that no food will be wasted. Administration officials say that around 20% of USAID programs will essentially be rolled over into the Department of State.
Even so, experts warn some of that food might expire and go to waste before it ever reaches those hungry populations — and that the delays caused by DOGE will result in preventable deaths even if all pre-allocated aid is ultimately dispatched.
In at least one case, the Post reports, 15,000 pounds of food was already marked “DESTROY” before it even left the United States.
Aid workers estimate, however, that there is still enough good food to help feed around 60 million people — if that food can reach its intended destinations.
A new kind of foreign aid
The Department of State, meanwhile, has begun rolling out a new style of smaller, more targeted humanitarian relief. On Aug. 7, Semafor reported the Trump administration will aim to provide $93 million in therapeutic ready-to-use foods — food that is specifically geared towards relieving acute child malnutrition — across thirteen nations. The administration will provide the funding to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), a UN agency that will then oversee and execute the operation.
None of that aid was allocated to Gaza, where the United Nations formally declared a famine on Aug. 22 following a conclusive determination on Aug. 15.
More cuts around the corner?
On Aug. 29, the White House informed Congress that it intends to unilaterally revoke an additional $4.9 billion in funding that Congress had already approved for foreign aid using a procedure known as a “pocket rescission.”
The Government Accountability Office ruled during the first Trump presidency that pocket rescissions are illegal.
The move prompted sharp criticism from both Democrats and Republicans, with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, calling it “a clear violation of the law.”
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., called it an “illegal ploy to steal [Congress’s] constitutional power to determine how taxpayer dollars get spent.”
The rescission targets U.S. funding for the United Nations, as well as U.S. international soft power operations and funding for programs previously under USAID, according to The New York Times.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
