President Donald Trump denounced U.S. foreign spending in his address to Congress Tuesday night even as his proposed deep budget cuts to foreign aid drew fierce criticism from Democrats, senior figures in his own party and international development groups.
“We've spent trillions of dollars overseas, while our infrastructure at home has so badly crumbled,” Trump said in a speech that largely focused on domestic policy. “America must put its own citizens first ... because only then, can we truly make America great again,” he said.
Late in the speech he briefly discussed foreign policy and humanitarian disasters, which Trump said need to be addressed by creating conditions where people can return home.
Printing articles to share with others is a breach of our terms and conditions and copyright policy. Please use the sharing options on the left side of the article. Devex Pro members may share up to 10 articles per month using the Pro share tool ( ).
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
