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The seven ways Trump’s aid ban could impact the world 

One aid worker said the sudden US freeze ‘threatens to destabilise the entire humanitarian system’

Aid workers have warned Donald Trump’s freeze on overseas programmes could have significant and dire global consequences.

Many humanitarian workers are afraid of speaking out due to fear of penalties against their programmes, but several who spoke on the condition of anonymity to The i Paper warned the ban would cost lives in some of the world’s most vulnerable places, de-stabilise insecure countries and may trigger a surge in irregular migration.

The new US president announced this week that he would pause all US aid funding for 90 days while he assessed its compatibility with his “America First” policy.

The US is by far the largest donor of international aid, supplying 42 per cent of global humanitarian funding last year – more than than the next ten donors combined.

Aid organisations around the world began receiving “stop work” orders this week, preventing them from continuing with US funded-programmes.

The US government later issued a waiver saying that some lifesaving services could continue, but a lack of clarity means many aid workers feel unable to restart programmes out of fear they will later be deemed ineligible and incur costs which will seriously damage – or wipe out – the organisation’s capability.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during an event to sign the Laken Riley Act, at the White House, in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
US President Donald Trump speaks during an event to sign the Laken Riley Act, at the White House, in Washington (Photo: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

“Half of the international aid system has been defunded,” said one senior aid worker. “You don’t renovate your house by burning it down, but that’s what’s happened.”

Thomas Byrne, a humanitarian consultant at MarketImpact who works with UN agencies, international NGOs and governments, said the freeze was a “seismic event that threatens to destabilise the entire humanitarian system”.

“Even if funding is restored after 90 days, the damage to humanitarian infrastructure, local partnerships, and operational capacity will take years to repair. This will dismantle systems that took decades to build,” he said.

Starvation care for babies loses funding

In parts of Africa, aid workers narrowly avoided having to turn off intensive care machines supporting starving children by finding emergency funding elsewhere.

“We have approximately 40 nutrition stabilisation centres – intensive care units for children under five with severe malnutrition who can’t be treated at home,” a senior humanitarian official said.

“They need to be fed with therapeutic products every three to four hours. We had to make a decision; what do we do with kids within those centres, receiving those centres, or the kid who turns up tomorrow? If we turned them away, we write their death warrants.”

The aid organisation found a small amount of internal funding to keep the centres open, but says it doesn’t have enough to support other programmes and isn’t sure of the future of its funding long term.

MSI, which provides contraception and safe abortions in 37 countries, said that its nurses and midwives had been forced to stop services.

Trump also reintroduced the “global gag rule” which stopped US government funding for non-US organisations if they tell a woman abortion is a legal option in her country, refer her to another provider or advocate for abortion rights with their own money.

“In the first two weeks of Trump’s presidency, our worst fears for global health have started to play out,” Beth Schlachter, senior director of US External Relations, said.

“If aid is not restored, it will have far-reaching, profound consequences and inflict unspeakable harm. When he imposed the global gag rule in 2017, it reduced MSI’s donor income by $120m, which would have allowed us to serve 8 million women with family planning, preventing six million unintended pregnancies, 1.8 million unsafe abortions and 20,000 maternal deaths.

In Thailand, aid clinics at camps providing shelter for about 100,000 refugees from Myanmar were ordered to shut.

Guards at Isis camps and mine clearing programmes

Mine clearance activities – of which the US is also the largest funder – will have to be paused or massively scaled back across the world, including in south east Asia and the Middle East.

The Mines Advisory Group announced that the US State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, which finances much of its work, had requested that the organisation halt US-funded operations.

In north-east Syria, where conflict is still raging, guards at a prison camp housing the relatives of Isis terrorists were sent home this week because of a lack of funds.

“There are about 124,000 people living in camps, and many of them will be as of today totally without camp management,” said one senior humanitarian official in the area.

“As of today, eight camps are no longer receiving essential services, including sanitation, food assistance, water deliveries and shelter support which have been suspended in some of the camps.

“Two of the camps house the families of Isis – these are closed camps with restrictions on movement within the camp and no permitted exit – which for a period within Saturday and Monday had no camp management services going in, including water and kerosene for fuel and heating.

“There was no civil guard force, because they’re employed by the camp management. The police and security forces had to scale up to secure the camp. There were no guards for three days for the humanitarian stocks and supplies, and at least one instance of looting was reported.”

Atul Gawande, former head of global health at USAID who left the agency this month, described the move as “catastrophic” and said it would affect organisations working with 6.5 million orphans and vulnerable children with HIV in 23 countries.

“Donated drug supplies keeping 20 million people living with HIV alive. That stops today,” he told Reuters.

Meanwhile, one UK academic institution was told to halt its three-day workshop on sanitation and gender equality in India that had only just completed its first day.

“Unfortunately, although all participants were present, they couldn’t continue their work together,” one staff member said.

Aid ban risks surge in migration and global instability

The ban is likely to destabilise poorer countries and could trigger a possible rise in irregular migration, causing massive geopolitical repercussions in the US and around the world, one senior aid official warned.

“The new administration is entitled to run reviews of all of its spending, but it’s stated goal of making the US strong and prosperous, I would contend relies on others being safe and prosperous too,” he said.

“There is no better way of doing this than through foreign aid. Of course, it can be improved, but this money is less than 1 per cent of the US federal budget, and delivers not only a huge humanitarian benefit but influences stability, buys goodwill and supports authorities in a country which otherwise might be less disposed to be favourable to them.”

The aid worker cited Haiti – a country geographically close to the US to which Washington was the main donor, where programmes tackling “famine-level” food security, gang violence and cholera are now at risk.

“It’s a country plagued by instability and a source of migration to the US. US has surely interest in stability in its own geographic neighbourhood and making it safe to stay in country so people don’t feel forced to flee,” the aid worker said.

Migration response work in Latin America could also be affected, as the US had been one of the only funders.

Schools for girls in Afghanistan and threats in Syria

In Afghanistan, the Taliban would be “only too happy” to see the cutting of girls education programmes, one senior aid worker said.

The damage to delicate relationships with local leaders in rural parts of Afghanistan – which are essential to operating the schools – of abruptly pausing the programme may never fully recover, he said.

The senior official also said that axing US in Syria so soon after the fall of the Assad regime could allow Russia and Iran – two hostile states identified as a threat to the UK by the head of the army – to make gains.

“We need the international community to invest in critical aid and create the grounds for recovery and stability, but instead aid is being suspended,” he said.

“There is a power vacuum at the moment in which Russia and Iran ground to establish influence. That would be destabilising in Syria, the wider region and embolden Russia worldwide.”

“From a humanitarian perspective, the aid ban is a catastrophe,” he added. “From a foreign policy perspective, it’s a massive own goal.”

Another aid worker said that organised crime gangs could be boosted by the pause.

“The pause also affects weapons and ammunition management programmes globally that keep illicit arms out of the hands of non state armed actors and transnational criminals including drug and people traffickers in places like Latin America and Africa,” he said.

Mass sacking of aid workers

The immediate suspension has led to aid programmes has seen mass firing of aid workers.

One aid worker in Sierra Leone said there was “complete paralysis” in the sector.

“The shared feeling among humanitarians is utter, utter horror, anger and disgust, that one man in the space of a few weeks can make such a globally tragic and life-altering decision for millions of people,” the humanitarian said.

“Aid workers I know at organisations which rely more on US funding have received emails from senior teams saying that they don’t know how they’re going to pay their salaries from tomorrow onwards,” she said.

“They’ve been instructed to stop activities immediately, with contracts terminated, and they have to grapple with the ethical implications of needing to continue lifesaving activities but also maintaining their own livelihoods. There’s a lot of guilt.”

The move came as a “complete and utter shock” and Megan’s colleagues were “fearful” about speaking out against the ban.

“Most of us in the sector knew there was going to be fluctuations with funding for the next four years now that Trump is in power, but no one anticipated that a stop work order would come into effect.”

A USAID spokesperson said: “We are expeditiously processing exception requests. Several urgent requests have been approved within hours. We cannot address every individual exception-related question but commit to transparency consistent with the President’s Executive Order. 

“The Secretary of State has approved core life-saving humanitarian assistance and issued waivers for specific purposes. Implementers of existing life-saving humanitarian assistance programs should continue or resume work.”

The US State Department was also approached for comment.



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