Two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a freeze on U.S. foreign aid, posters began to blanket the bus stations of Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. “China aid,” the red-and-white signs read. “For shared future.”
Photos of the signs were shared with Devex in early February — and nearly six months later, nearly everything about U.S. foreign aid has changed.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has been hollowed out. The Trump administration has proposed cutting the country’s international affairs budget by 84%. And the State Department, which has now become responsible for U.S. foreign assistance, is facing steep cuts of its own, losing 3,000 staffers last week.