Public sentiment is overwhelmingly negative regarding US foreign aid cuts, with strong fears that these actions will lead to increased suffering and preventable deaths in vulnerable populations. Many respondents express frustration at prioritizing domestic issues over global humanitarian responsibilities, highlighting the moral implications of such cuts.

US Government

Global Health Organizations

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Horrifying figures and this is just the start. If new AI technology enables capitalists to do away with all the people they no longer require, can we expect them to treat us any better?

taxes-or-death

I feel the "post-Cold War" politics feels very distant. It's every nation/bloc for themselves effectively from now on :/ (and we're not taking security still seriously with an RAF airbase breached by sodding bikes).

Dangerman1337

This is one of the reasons why it was so important Trump lost. Everything should have been put into making sure his second term never happened. These deaths are going to continue year on year on year now.

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Trump failed to understand that the USA gained a huge amount of influence through aid programs. 

And the money for aid was often spent on services and goods provided by companies in the USA such as pharma and food, so these cuts are harmful to the USA as well as the recipients of the aid.

speculatrix

This is probably the most vile thing that resulted from this administration. I think the tax math is somewhere around 6 dollars a *year* for each American family, i.e., the cost of a cup of coffee, to prevent millions of deaths due to famine and disease in other parts of the world.

**Edit:** I need to revise my comment as I misspoke based on something I [recently read](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/opinion/usaid-ending.html?unlocked_article_code=1.TE8.8XMK.zB2J3KJZLw4p&amp;smid=url-share), which is actually talking about $2 billion the US spent on a drought response in 2022 in Ethiopia estimated to have saved anywhere from 2.1 to 3.9 million lives. This is what translated to 6 dollars per household.

The actual figure for the average taxpayer is beyond my pay grade to sit down and try to calculate, and the number might be out there somewhere, but based on 2024 figures from [foreignassistance.gov](http://foreignassistance.gov), even if we include all of health, humanitarian assistance, economic development, program support, multi-sector, democracy/human rights/governance, education/social services, and environment, our total sits around $50 billion. Based on the above proportion, that's actually about $150 a year, which again -- that's a nice dinner for two, a new tennis racket, a new pair of running shoes, etc. The average household is not going to feel the effects of it, but I imagine the people receiving such aid will.

thinkbee

Actively withdrawing aid to the poorest people on the planet, resulting in the unnecessary death of millions, while being the richest country on earth constitutes crimes against humanity. It’s unethical, stupidly shortsighted and downright evil. 

And all the while the Trump family rakes in billions through slush funds, crypto and direct bribes.

schacks

His idea of winning is getting the highest death count of any president

Sprinkle_Puff

Some of you may die… but that is a sacrifice he is willing to make

starrpamph

And his big beautiful bill will cause an additional 50k deaths yearly in the USA. He’s the deadliest president ever

PrinceDaddy10

https://workreform.us/1000-primaries

https://generalstrikeus.com/

https://www.fiftyfifty.one/events

https://5calls.org/

https://www.saikat.us/en

Patient_Phone_8110

the_red_scimitar

Hmm... he appealed to Christians. Wasn't there a bible story/parable about a rich man and a beggar? 

random-tree-42

Pro-life. Christian. Just words for television.

chuston_ai

Happy Christians? Proud of yourselves? I'm sure millions of Christians will rally to provide the aid themselves, oh wait, there's no way that's going to happen.

smailskid

Do these foreign aids really make it to the poor? I grew up in a rural part of Vietnam. Once we got hit by a hurricane and then followed by a flood. All we got was a few packs of instant noodles which lasted us like 1 meal.

MarionberryBright171

Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis
 

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01186-9/fulltext

NinjaDiscoJesus

Part of an increasing trend across the world, sadly. Here in the UK the cost of increased military spending is being taken from the international aid budget.

AllanfromWales1

Liquid_Cascabel

The richest SOBs in the USA telling the poorest and most vulnerable people on the planet to drop dead.

weirdal1968

He wasn't satisfied being responsible for over a million American deaths during Covid, so now he's trying to kill as many people in general the world over during his second run at f'ing things up for everyone.

flaagan

Foreign aid programs also enabled use to have massive capacities for food production, medication production, etc which in the event of a global catastrophe is a very good insurance policy.

WheyTooMuchWeight

No one is stopping anyone here from personally donating their money directly to the people of these countries.

tiandrad

That's the point, the orange bastard wants as much death as possible.

SirOakin

Why can't their own countries take care of them?

jobabin4

It’s not the responsibility of the US to be the protector of the entire world.

McFoogles

He is a very evil man. No heart, no sympathy for anyone else but himself. So many people will be hurt here and globally here and due to his horrible actions. America is not winning under him. We are losing very badly.

Objective_Problem_90

Serious question, is Trump the antichrist? Every headline feels like he is trying to one up Hitler. 

Accurate_Stuff9937

Hospitals in Tigray are worried about no longer being able to treat the long term affects of those caught in the civil war 

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jun/30/sexual-violence-tigray-women-abuse-gang-rape-ethiopia-eritrea

synonymsanonymous

“Both sides are the same” people raise your hands!

theblackd

I really, really don't like Trump but the logic to this is simply to understand, appeals to his voters, and makes sense to a lot of people in Western countries that feel their well-being is outsourced for foreign interests and political popularity: Americans want their tax money directed towards Americans. This is also known as the "America first" policy and principally it's not wrong, governments should take care of their citizens before the rest of the world, but in practice we know that every bit saved abroad but the Trump regime will not make its way into American every day people's pockets. Fundamentally good idea according to a lot of people, but poor execution.

Major_Boot2778

I get the argument “it’s our money and we can spend it how we like” or whatever. Still though, it just feels anti human?

randompine4pple

That's more than two holocausts. Heck, it's almost three Iraq wars.

zerot0n1n

Certain_Moose_2284

AiR-P00P

I honestly think that's their point. They want to kill as many poor people and people they don't like as they possibly can in the cruelest way possible.

mymar101

Why is the science sub allowing all this ridiculous hyperbole?

neloish

The US obviously cannot be expected to finance 80% of global GMOs and protect Europe while protecting Taiwan and accepting more immigrants than any nation. This was started because of post WW2 prosperity but was never sustainable.

lilwayne168

For republicans, the cruelty is the point. Never forget that.

HickoryRanger

Lack of European funding to humanitarian aid could lead to additional 14m deaths by 2030.

mcr55

It's already a genocide it just has to fully manifest

Nratar

This is what the Zoomers voted for. Trump has been so much better for the Gazans, don't you think?

Mr_Pigg

As long as he gives the money to the billionaires in the US, I'm all for cutting aid to the most vulnerable in the world.

Plasticbonder

Is that it now? Is this the only thing you all do? Everyone will die if we don’t keep these inefficient and bloated government programs around?

Auditdefender

he's going for the genghis khan death toll!!

_thetommy

Knowing this in advance means those deaths will not be accidental.

RedBeans-n-Ricely

Obviously biased — USAID wasn’t perfect and there were a lot of areas for improvement, but the way this has unfolded is undoubtedly a dangerous shift.

Mammoth_Series_8905

These sociopaths want everything to work like quarterly earning reports.

Anthop

It’s a disgrace and harms US interests. We are made stronger through genuine partnership, not through bullying people into trade deals. For decades, USAID has focused on economic development and sustainability, so saying this is now a priority is hogwash. Building up foreign economic strength has repeatedly provided the US with stronger trading markets, but the current administration’s approach of strong-arming countries into trade deals will only hurt us in the long run as the world turns their backs on us.

hooliganswoon

Major cuts in activities everywhere, many projects will disappear. 

On the other hand , a lot of "eternal employees" of these ngos and projects will have to move on. Finally.

mikatovish

I believe that moving aid under State all but guarantees that the only countries who will receive aid will be the ones who do exactly what the U.S. government (the Trump Administration) wants them to do , and that's what I read between the lines of Rubio's message.

PC_MeganS

We are experiencing a coup by those not at all beholden to or deferential to the constitution or the rule of law.

We are experiencing a coup by those co-opted by one of our premier adversaries, who would like nothing less than for our partnerships and soft power abroad to be lessened.

This is a victory for them, and a shameful loss for the United States.

slow70

IMO dangerous, taking out the US in such a halfcocked way certainly damaged the communities and relationships that have been building since the 60s over multiple administrations says alot. There are numerous things I can say about the benifits of the work, was it perfect no, bad apples every now and again sure, but to throw away decades of work and the recipients in such a fashion…deplorable and will make it a lot less advantageous for US interest in years to come.

Dry-Clue7234

&gt;a strong shift toward trade, investment, and **short-term impact over long-term aid**

We all had critiques of how foreign aid worked for the past several decades, but deciding that sustainability and long-term impact are no longer priorities is pretty stupid.

whatdoyoudonext

The problem with repubs is that latch on to something that is true (aid can be improved and reformed) and then take to a silly ideological extreme. Much of USAID already focused on working with the private sector and finding sustainable solutions, many of which were successful. Much of funding was linked with foreign policy aims. Instead of keeping what was working and making policy shifts Elon threw a shit fit and lots of babies are dying. Now they are trying to cover their tracks.

Mercredee

Unbelievably cruel, stupid, shortsighted and tragic

ahoypolloi_

MezcalFlame

Real world consequences already materializing after the USAID freeze.

The article focuses on Myanmar, where 50% of the population lives in poverty. This will be the first death of many thanks to the “ready, fire, aim” policies of this administration.

LuklaAdvocate

I live in Thailand.  

Here’s what they didn’t tell you:

- These refugees are from a civil war in which China has financed all sides.   
- Thailand refused to fund medical treatment when the IRC money stopped because Thai doctors said they wanted to prioritize Thai citizens healthcare. One doctor threatened to quit unless the government gave them money to treat the refugees and the government refused. 
- When the person died, the PM was in China meeting with Xi on how they could work together better.  No talks of refugees.  

Thailand has gone from reliable U.S. ally after the Vietnam War to semi-vassal state of China.  

This is a PR stunt by Thailand to get the U.S. to start sending money so the money doesn’t have to come from Thailand (because nobody even expects China to pay for the consequences of the war it’s financing).

[deleted]

Trump supporters will cheer for this. I can hear thousands of fingers typing "Why should my tax payer dollars help poor people in countries I've never heard of?!" from here. 

Americans don't care about foreign aid or soft power. You will NEVER convince Trump voters that voting for Trump is bad by telling them that a bunch of impoverished non-Americans are dying on the other side of the world because of Trump lmao If anything this will bring MORE people into MAGA.

MakeUpAnything

The fact that Democrats are parroting the same rhetoric that Republicans were doing 20 years earlier while Republicans have continued to slid further right is fucking insane

Ok_Board9845

Musk's final solution is really paying off.

Educational_Impact93

Remember death panels? Republicans are the real deal.

Bobinct

Foreign aid tends to be pretty unpopular. US foreign aid has saved literally dozens of millions of lives over the past few decades alone but I have a feeling that many folks would be quite fine just cutting it all off completely

Okbuddyliberals

Decent_Cheesecake_29

VictorianAuthor

Unfortunate but that's the consequences of developing a dependency on irrational U.S. policies.

DirtyOldPanties

This woman’s image will be on terrorist recruitment propaganda.  Soft power has value.

Apprehensive_Song490

Federal grants are paid quarterly.  No organization was getting any more money before April 1st, even if Trump did nothing.  If they are already out of money long before April 1st, this person would have died anyway.

I am beyond disgusted with democrat lies.  All this hysteria about an audit tells us the extreme levels of corruption they are trying to hide.

Karissa36

It is an absolutely shocking. I wish the public would realise better the consequences of this decision but I barely see it in the news where I live

vulteru

pet languid six boast oatmeal offbeat include yam support shrill

 *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev/home)*

New_7688

American money...American DECISION. If AMERICA does not want to share or give money away to POOR countries..then IT IS AMERICA's RIGHT to do so. If you want funding for your poor nation's projects, then time TO STAND ON YOUR OWN TWO FEET and not rely on RICH NATION'S handouts anymore. Time to suck it up and FUND YOUR OWN FRIGGIN AID PROGRAMS.

Usual_Aspect_1470

Hi! Thank you for the initiative raised. Indeed, this action has impacted so many people in the field requiring humanitarian support, and also various actors/ stakeholders that have been supporting the effort.

Is there anyone here whose job also ended due to this? If yes, how are you coping? What steps are you taking to move forward? I've experienced both global downsizing of an organization I was working for in 2023, and then USAID foreign aid freeze this year. It's been tough but I love the work. I hope to get through this very soon, and certainly wish the same to everyone experiencing the same.

Just commenting here since it's relevant to the subject rather than creating a new thread of the same/similar title. 

Regards.

Foreign-Jury-5536

Cuts to U.S. foreign aid could lead to millions of preventable deaths by 2030, threatening health advancements in low- and middle-income countries.

Impact of US Foreign Aid Cuts on Global Health

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