As USAID Stops Foreign Aid, Rubio Says US Will Focus on Investment Over Assistance

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) officially stopped implementing foreign aid on July 1, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, adding that America's assistance in the future will be targeted and limited.

- 

WASHINGTON -

In a statement marking the transfer of USAID to the State Department as part of US President Donald Trump's unprecedented push to shrink the federal government, Mr. Rubio said the US was abandoning what he called a charity-based model and would focus on empowering countries to grow sustainably.

"We will favor those nations that have demonstrated both the ability and willingness to help themselves and will target our resources to areas where they can have a multiplier effect and catalyze a durable private sector, including American companies, and global investment," the top US diplomat wrote.

This new model, he wrote, would prioritize trade over aid and investment over assistance, adding that it would put Washington in a stronger place to counter Beijing.

The Trump administration has frozen and then cut back billions of dollars of foreign aid since taking office, saying it wants to ensure US taxpayer money goes only to programs that are aligned with Mr. Trump's "America First" policies.

The cutbacks have effectively shut down USAID, leading to the firing of thousands of its employees and contractors.