US foreign aid freeze stops crucial projects in the Pacific
Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze has stopped vital projects in the south Pacific, risking lives and hurting US efforts to woo the region, aid workers and analysts say.
Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze has stopped vital projects in the south Pacific, risking lives and hurting US efforts to woo the region, aid workers and analysts say.
Disaster-prone, isolated, and threatened by rising seas, tropical Pacific island states are some of the most aid-reliant nations on Earth. They are also at the centre of a contest pitting China against the US, Australia and other allies in a scramble for diplomatic, financial and military influence in the region.
For years the US has helped to buy life-saving medicine for tropical disease, combat illegal fishing, and better prepare coastal hamlets for earthquakes and typhoons.
These projects and many more are in limbo after the US President declared last month that USAID’s $US42bn ($66bn) budget would be mostly frozen for 90 days.
“We work really hard for this program and the communities will lose trust in us,” said Heyer Vavozo, who manages a marine conservation charity in Solomon Islands.
Positive Change for Marine Life has had to lay off staff as it waits to hear what will happen to its $US500,000 grant.
The program’s community co-ordinator, Lucy Jepson, said the organisation was scrambling for finance: “We are just chasing funds from anywhere and everywhere we can.”
The US poured $US2.1bn of aid into the Pacific islands between 2008 and 2022, according to Australia’s Lowy Institute think-tank.
“The US funds a lot of medical aid related to HIV, drug resistance, tuberculosis and malaria,” said Pacific analyst Graeme Smith from the Australian National University.
“If these programs are stopped – and they have been stopped – then people will die.”
The US withdrawal comes as China renews efforts to deliver aid and infrastructure funding throughout the region.
China tends to finance large infrastructure projects, so may not be keen to replace the US in other programs, Mr Smith said.
US funding now narrowly trails that of China, which has become the second-largest bilateral donor in the Pacific region behind Australia.
In 2022, China spent $US256m, according to the Lowy Institute, up nearly 14 per cent from three years earlier. The US spent $US249m.
Papua New Guinea environmental lawyer Peter Bosip used a small USAID grant to help rural communities negotiate with mining companies, and he warned that the halt in aid funds risks eroding trust. “People will be confused, and the implications of this confusion is that they will not trust the work of donor agencies and the support that they provide,” Mr Bosip said. He was doubtful many foreign aid programs would survive the 90-day review, leaving Pacific charities and the communities they help struggling.
“I don’t think the US aid funding will come back, even though it is stated that they will review it after 90 days,” Mr Bosip said.
The US had grown “unpredictable” and its allies may no longer rely on it to fund Pacific projects, said Lowy Institute economist Alexandre Dayant.
“The damage to the US reputation in the region is permanent,” he said. “There will be pressure for Canberra to fill up the gap that the United States is leaving. But our aid budget is actually limited as well.”
AFP
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