Ex-USAID chief calls Trump's actions 'most costly foreign policy blunders'

People protest against the administration of US President Donald Trump's decision to virtually shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 5, 2025. (Photo/AFP)

Former USAID chief Samantha Power has blasted President Donald Trump over his dismantling of the humanitarian agency, saying the move threatened America's national security and standing around the world.

"We are witnessing one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in US history," Power, who led United States Agency for International Development throughout former President Joe Biden's term, wrote in the New York Times on Friday.

USAID runs health and emergency programmes in around 120 countries, including the world's poorest regions.

It is seen as a vital source of soft power for the United States in its struggle for influence with rivals including China.

Power dubbed the agency "America's superpower" in a scathing opinion piece.

"We are witnessing one of the worst and most costly foreign policy blunders in US history," said Power.

Unless the dismantling is halted, Power wrote, "future generations will marvel that it wasn't China's actions that eroded US standing and global security" but rather "an American president and the billionaire he unleashed to shoot first and aim later."

Trump doubles down

President Donald Trump later on Friday called for USAID to be shuttered, escalating his unprecedented campaign to dismantle the humanitarian agency.

"THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE. CLOSE IT DOWN!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social app as part of a drive that has triggered chaos in the agency's global network and allegations of weakening American influence on the world stage.

In the three weeks since he began his new term, Trump has launched a campaign led by his top donor and world's richest person, Elon Musk, to downsize or dismantle swaths of the US government.

The most concentrated fire has been on the USAID.

Musk, meanwhile, reposted photos on social media of the agency's signage being taken down from its Washington headquarters.

The Trump administration has already frozen foreign aid and ordered thousands of foreign-based staff to return to the United States, with reported impacts on the ground steadily growing.

On Thursday, a union official confirmed reports that the USAID headcount of 10,000 employees would be reduced to around only 300.

Labor unions are challenging the legality of the onslaught, including a separate government-wide offer of buyouts by Musk's team.

Democrats in Congress say it would be unconstitutional for Trump — who has also expressed intent to close the Department of Education — to shut down government agencies without the legislature's greenlight.

Also on Friday a US judge said he will enter a "limited" order temporarily blocking the Trump administration from taking some steps to dismantle the USAID, adding that 2,200 employees from the agency would not immediately be placed on administrative leave.

US District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, who was nominated by Trump during his first term, announced the decision at a hearing on a lawsuit from the largest US government workers' union and an association of foreign service workers, who sued to stop the administration from dismantling the agency.

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Source: TRT