President Donald Trump’s draft budget, released Thursday morning, took direct aim at U.S. support for international climate change action, including withdrawing support for the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund, ending U.S. climate-related foreign aid programs, and curtailing investments in research and development.
The president’s Budget Director Mick Mulvaney did not mince words in explaining Trump’s rationale.
“As to climate change, I think the president was fairly straightforward — we're not spending money on that anymore; we consider that to be a waste of your money to go out and do that,” he said in a briefing Thursday.
Read more on U.S. aid under Trump:
► Digging deep: How Trump's budget affects everything from local jobs to foreign stability
► UN calls for continued engagement as Trump budget aims to slash funding
► Trump's foreign aid budget: The response on Twitter
► Trump's 'America first' budget slashes foreign aid, multilateral funding
About the authors
Sophie Edwards
Sophie Edwards is a Devex Contributing Reporter covering global education, water and sanitation, and innovative financing, along with other topics. She has previously worked for NGOs, and the World Bank, and spent a number of years as a journalist for a regional newspaper in the U.K. She has a master's degree from the Institute of Development Studies and a bachelor's from Cambridge University.
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
