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FOREIGN AID HIVGDPYour browser does not support the element.is easy to decry. Money is often wasted or stolen. Its benefits are hard to see. And giving money to foreigners means less for voters at home. That makes it an ideal target for the America First president, Donald Trump.But when so much assistance to so many of the world’s needy disappears overnight, as it did when the State Department ordered almost all aid to be cut on January 24th, the harm was visible everywhere. Clinics closed their doors; antiretroviral drugs to treat those infected with dried up; work on controlling other viruses ceased; the clearing of land-mines stopped; support for refugees evaporated. The American-backed camps holding captured Islamic State fighters in Syria won a two-week waiver to , which is only somewhat reassuring.All this was a gift for China as it vies with America for soft-power supremacy. Why would an American president, even one so careless as Mr Trump, so wantonly damage his country’s interests? One reason is public opinion. Americans think that foreign aid gobbles up a massive 25% of the federal budget, polls say. The real figure is closer to 1% ($68bn in 2023, not counting most aid to Ukraine). That’s a very modest 0.25% of .A new administration is right to review spending, but a responsible one would start by doing no harm. Given that America supplies 40% of all humanitarian aid, it would let work continue while officials assessed what to extend, change or scrap. The Trump administration did it backwards: first halting assistance, then deciding case by case what should resume after 90 days. The ensuing shambles was predictable. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, had to backtrack within four days. He announced a broad exemption for “life-saving humanitarian assistance”—though what this means is unclear.The resulting chaos may have several explanations. One is that it was unintended. Mr Trump often appoints officials for their loyalty, not their competence. Many jobs remain unfilled. Or his people may be keen to show their zeal. Mr Trump’s executive order told departments to pause “new obligations and disbursements of development assistance”. Mr Rubio went further, also stopping existing programmes, including humanitarian and security projects as well as economic development.Ideology may be to blame, too. The administration is using shock and awe to root out “woke” thinking and crush the deep state. Perhaps it wants to show that America First means what it says: that the world comes second. And perhaps Mr Trump relishes a burst of chaos. In an anarchic world the strong prevail, and nowhere is stronger than America.The real explanation probably involves a mix of all these elements. It makes for erratic and callous policymaking. As with the demonisation of migrants at home, inflicting cruelty abroad may be an objective in itself.A late convert to America First, Mr Rubio wants it to shape foreign policy. He says foreign states have abused the American-made order “to serve their interest at the expense of ours”. And he insists that every dollar disbursed must make America safer, stronger or more prosperous.This week he learned about unintended consequences. Risking a mass breakout of jihadists makes America less safe. Causing misery alienates friends and potential allies, making America weaker. And a poorer world will ultimately make America poorer, too. American generosity is not just charity. Foreign aid that creates a more stable and richer world is in America’s greatest interest. Call it America First if you like.
