INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his administration’s cuts to the U.S
Agency for International Development and its aid programs worldwide have been “devastating.”, Reuters reported.
Speaking beside South
African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a White House visit, Trump was asked about his cutting most foreign aid by a reporter who said the
decision had significant impacts in Africa.
“It’s devastating, and hopefully a lot of people are going to start spending a lot of
money,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“I’ve talked to other nations
We want them to chip in and spend money too, and we’ve spent a lot
And it’s a big – it’s a tremendous problem going on in many countries
A lot of problems going on
The United States always gets the request for money
Nobody else helps.”
The State Department, which manages USAID, did not immediately respond to a request for comment
The administration has repeatedly defended the cuts, saying they were focused on wasted funds
The gutting of the agency, largely overseen by South Africa-born businessman Elon Musk, is the subject of several federal lawsuits, read the
report.
The United States is the world’s largest humanitarian aid donor, amounting to at least 38% of all contributions recorded by the
It disbursed $61 billion in foreign assistance last year, just over half of it via USAID, according to government data.
The U.S
spent half a billion dollars on South African aid in 2023, mostly on healthcare, the most recent data shows
Most of that funding has been withdrawn, though it is unclear exactly how much.
The cuts have had an effect on the country’s response to
South Africa has the world’s highest burden of HIV, with about 8 million people – one in five adults – living with the virus, Reuters
reported.
Washington was funding 17% of the country’s HIV budget before the cuts
In the months since, testing and monitoring of HIV patients across South Africa has decreased, Reuters has reported.
The post Trump calls
his own foreign aid cuts at USAID ‘devastating’ first appeared on TINS News | Afghanistan News.
