The birth and death of USAID

On his first day in office in 2025 US President Donald Trump announced a freeze on foreign aid. Billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance stopped flowing to other countries and thousands of aid workers were laid off. The U.S.A.I.D program was established by President John F Kennedy in 1961, at the peak of cold war tensions, but researcher Luke Fletcher says its roots date back to WWII, and a desire by the US to greatly expand its economic and military power. So what is the US losing by shutting it down? And who is filling the void?

Guest: Luke Fletcher, Executive Director, Jubilee Australia Research Centre and author of America and the Birth of Global Aid, published by Routledge

Producer: Catherine Zengerer