The effective dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development has dealt a major blow to American “soft power,” said Isobel Coleman, a former senior USAID official.
Speaking at the Beckman Center at UC Irvine on Wednesday evening, March 19, Coleman, who served as USAID’s deputy administrator for policy and programming under the Biden administration, said there will be a severe impact from halting critical foreign assistance programs.
“The work in the field has mostly ground to a halt, and American soft power has taken a big hit,” said Coleman, who led the review of the U.S. mission to the United Nations for former President Joe Biden’s transition team before joining USAID. “Over its 63-year existence, USAID has saved and improved the lives of hundreds of millions of people.”
Coleman’s talk at UCI, part of the School of Social Ecology’s speaker series on contemporary policy issues, comes after the Trump administration made drastic cuts to USAID’s funding and operations as part of a broader effort to reorganize U.S. foreign aid.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on March 10 that an internal review had resulted in the cancellation of 83% of the agency’s programs and much of USAID’s work is at a standstill. The goal, according to the administration, is to prioritize aid that aligns more closely with U.S. interests, focusing on areas including humanitarian aid and disaster response, and to counter China’s influence.
But the halt, Coleman argued, not only exacerbates human suffering, but also shifts the global balance of power, making it “easier for China to extend and deepen its interests around the world.”
“No country is more pleased to see USAID shut down than the People’s Republic of China,” she said, pointing out that China has already signaled its intent to fill the void in countries that once depended on American aid, including Cambodia and Nepal.
This week, the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle…
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