As the United States dramatically reduces its foreign aid, the European Commission asserts it cannot completely fill the resulting gap. Internal discussions reveal EU officials are evaluating critical areas such as health, migration, and state fragility that may need bolstering in light of U.S. aid cuts.
Also in today’s edition: Career diplomats will start packing their bags and heading home, Marco Rubio talks tough, and the U.S. State Department has a mix-up with its foreign aid cuts.
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Europe's dilemma
As the U.S. scales back its foreign aid, leaving a gaping hole in the Western world’s contributions, the European Commission is publicly sticking to the line that it “cannot fill the gap.” However, a peek behind the curtain reveals something juicier — a detailed internal analysis, spotted by Devex contributor Vince Chadwick, shows the European Union’s top dogs in heated discussions about which American cuts could hit them the hardest and how they might just pick up some of the slack.
In early February, Ilze Juhansone, the commission’s secretary-general, rallied her team to pinpoint which U.S. funding cuts were crucial for EU interests. Koen Doens, the head honcho of the commission’s development department, zeroed in on three biggies: health, migration, and fragility.
Health: Post the Trump administration’s freeze on aid and before slashing 83% of USAID’s programs, Doens spotlighted health as a former U.S. darling, covering everything from HIV/AIDS prevention to pandemic threats. With U.S. funds drying up, he sees pathogens such as the H5N1 influenza and Ebola viruses as real threats to European health security. Plus, he’s pretty vocal about the loss of U.S. expertise from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and USAID.
But it’s not all doom and gloom — Doens noted the EU’s own muscle in this area, boasting rapid deployment labs that could easily outmatch the now-lagging U.S. support.
Migration: The withdrawal of U.S. funds is also stirring fears of increased irregular migration to the EU, driven by worsening conditions in countries such as Ethiopia and Afghanistan, the latter having a significant number of asylum-seekers in the EU.
Fragility: Lastly, the fragile states, heavily reliant on USAID, could see weakened ties and an increase in instability, something the EU is wary of as these states play into wider global security issues.
Despite the proactive chatter, Doens admitted replacing U.S. aid is a tall order, signaling some tough calls ahead for EU donors. And while major EU players have also tightened their belts, the commission’s latest stance for its U.S. partners stresses a continued commitment to global stability and multilateralism, albeit against the backdrop of rising competitors like China and Russia looking to fill the void.
All in all, it’s a complex chess game of global aid, with Europe grappling with whether it can, or even should, step into shoes recently vacated by the United States.
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Cuts and corrections
It looks like the U.S. State Department has had a mix-up with its foreign aid cuts, but it assures us that the nation’s dedication to global assistance is still strong.
Tammy Bruce, the State Department’s spokesperson, acknowledged the blunder. “There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut, that have been rolled back and put into place,” she explains. This admission came hot on the heels of another round of aid reductions that slashed 42 programs in places like Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen, writes my colleague Elissa Miolene.
The cuts were part of what Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced as a completed six-week review, chopping 83% of USAID programs as of early March. But as some organizations braced for impact with familiar termination emails over the weekend, USAID’s new Deputy Administrator for Policy and Programs Jeremy Lewin was already in damage-control mode. By Monday, he was requesting the rescission of terminations for six vital World Food Programme projects.
“When and if that happens, that’s recognized, and that has also been the case with something as complicated as this framework,” Bruce adds, trying to clarify the situation.
Yet, she didn’t shy away from backing the administration’s decisions to cut assistance to Yemen and Afghanistan, citing concerns over funding potentially benefiting groups like the Houthis and the Taliban. “These concerns with U.N. funding have been documented and discussed for years,” she notes, adding that some terminations were due to the shift away from cash-based assistance, aiming to enhance accountability for American taxpayers.
With the review officially wrapped up, Bruce is now looking to get a “fuller view” of the situation as the State Department tackles the ongoing issues with foreign aid. It’s a complex affair, and it seems the State Department is still trying to find its footing amid these sweeping changes.
Read: Trump administration admits lifesaving aid was accidentally cut
ICYMI: A ‘death sentence for millions’ as US cuts more aid
Packing their bags
It’s truly the end of an era. With the Trump administration having dismantled USAID, all of the agency’s career diplomats and their families are being called back to the U.S. by Aug. 15, and for some, even earlier. This marks a massive shake-up, as many of these people have spent years abroad, deeply embedded in their host communities, making lifesaving impacts through USAID's global programs — the majority of which have been slashed. Now they’re uprooting their lives, too.
Meanwhile, the agency needs to sever ties with all local hires by Aug. 15, per a recent leadership email from USAID. The State Department will take over what’s left of the foreign aid programs, but it’s still up in the air when and how they’ll start hiring for these roles, and who gets to stay on.
Now, USAID workers are busy winding down operations, managing program transitions, and some restarting initiatives that were previously cut. It’s a big “final mission” as they prepare to either move back to the U.S. or hang in limbo, hoping for a chance to continue their work.
“It’s mind blowing,” one USAID worker stationed abroad tells Devex Senior Reporter Sara Jerving.
And it’s not just a straightforward pack-your-bags homecoming. The repatriation process itself is a byproduct of earlier Trump administration plans, which were delayed by lawsuits from the American Foreign Service Association and others, citing risks from such “chaotic” changes.
The layoffs are staggering — staff must be out of their host countries by their termination date to avoid personal costs and legal hassles, as USAID folk will lose their diplomatic status post-termination.
To those on the ground, it’s more than just a job shift; it’s about ensuring their monumental efforts don’t just evaporate. As they coordinate handovers, there’s palpable concern that the State Department might not yet be up to the task, lacking both the technical know-how and the local presence essential for these complex programs.
Read: USAID foreign officers to be repatriated, local staff fired by Aug. 15
Too woke?
Marco Rubio had some tough words for U.S. foreign assistance — which has been all but completely dissolved during his short tenure as secretary of state — on a podcast hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump’s son: Triggered with Don Jr.
“We turned [foreign aid] into a tool to export our domestic policies of the far left,” Rubio said, according to a transcript published by the State Department on Tuesday. “We began to use foreign aid not as a way to make America stronger, safer, more prosperous, but as a way to impose – impose – the domestic political agenda of the left onto foreign countries. And it became a vehicle for that.”
Foreign aid had turned into “cultural imperialism,” Rubio said, in part because “USAID was separate from the State Department” and “did whatever they wanted.” He spoke about the “foreign aid industrial complex,” with organizations “raking in hundreds of millions of dollars” to run programs on behalf of the U.S. government. And he talked about how aid was “indoctrinating people on the social priorities of the far left in the United States.”
“So we’re going to realign foreign aid,” Rubio told Donald Trump Jr. “We’re actually going to be helping countries with what they generally need.” That includes security assistance, Rubio said, and helping countries “build up police departments and security forces” so they can take on gang violence.
“The best foreign aid is foreign aid that ultimately ends because it’s successful, because you go in, you help somebody, they build up their capacity, and now they can handle it themselves, and they don’t need foreign aid anymore.”
In other news
Oxfam GB plans to cut 265 jobs, as the Oxford-based charity said its funding is impacted by the state of the economy. [BBC]
U.S. Indo-Pacific commander, Admiral Samuel Paparo, is strongly advocating for continued USAID funding to the Pacific islands, a region where the U.S. and China compete for influence. [Reuters]
At the EU-Horn of Africa migration meeting, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty highlighted its tough stance on migration since 2016 and urged European nations for greater support for the country’s 10 million refugees. [Africanews]
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About the author
Helen Murphy
Helen is an award-winning journalist and Senior Editor at Devex, where she edits coverage on global development in the Americas. Based in Colombia, she previously covered war, politics, financial markets, and general news for Reuters, where she headed the bureau, and for Bloomberg in Colombia and Argentina, where she witnessed the financial meltdown. She started her career in London as a reporter for Euromoney Publications before moving to Hong Kong to work for a daily newspaper.
