The State Department has released its latest five-year strategy, outlining its plans to use 40% of the country’s foreign assistance budget on the Western Hemisphere and East Asia this year — a 25 to 30 percentage-point increase from USAID’s spending on the regions in 2024.
“For too long, assistance justified on globalist or humanitarian bases benefitted groups unfriendly to the United States,” reads the 19-page strategy document. “No longer.”
The focus on those two regions is an extension of the administration’s “Donroe Doctrine,” a term coined to describe President Donald Trump’s push to assert dominance in the Western Hemisphere. First used by the media and then taken up by the president himself, the term is a play on the Monroe Doctrine, which in the 19th century warned European powers against interfering in the Americas. Today, it has been retooled for Trump’s “America First” agenda and refers to the administration’s efforts to reward allies, punish enemies, and box out other world powers.
About the author
Elissa Miolene
Elissa Miolene reports on USAID and the U.S. government at Devex. She previously covered education at The San Jose Mercury News, and has written for outlets like The Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Washingtonian magazine, among others. Before shifting to journalism, Elissa led communications for humanitarian agencies in the United States, East Africa, and South Asia.
