Trump calls aid cuts ‘devastating’ and urges other countries to contribute

Washington — US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his administration's cuts to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its aid programmes worldwide have been “devastating”.

Speaking beside President Cyril Ramaphosa during a White House visit, Trump when asked by a reporter about his cuts to most foreign aid said the decision had had a significant impact 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 US 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 SA-born businessperson Elon Musk, is the subject of several federal lawsuits.

The US is the world's largest humanitarian aid donor, amounting to at least 38% of all contributions recorded by the UN. It disbursed $61bn in foreign assistance last year, just over half of it via USAID, according to government data.

The US spent half-a-billion dollars on SA 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 Most of that funding has been withdrawn, though it is unclear exactly how much.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 affected SA’s response to the HIV/Aids epidemic. SA has the world’s highest burden of HIV, with about 7-million people — one in five adults — living with the virus.

Washington was funding 17% of the country’s HIV budget before the cuts. In the months since, testing and monitoring of HIV patients across SA has decreased, Reuters has reported.

Reuters