Whist concern continues about the uncertainty and disruption to the world’s economic order due to the actions of the Trump administration, perhaps of greater concern is the impact of the decision to cut US aid funding and the administration’s rejection of multilateralism.
With more than $40 billion of US assistance withdrawn from the world’s poor, it is estimated that more than one million people, many in Africa, will die this year who otherwise would not have, due to being unable to access drugs for HIV prevention and treatment Over the next five years, another 10 million people are expected to contract HIV.
Another half a million will die needlessly from the withdrawal of the USAid vaccine program, and nearly half a million others in the next year without American funding for food aid.
In February the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) announced significant reductions in support for refugees and displaced people, due to the suspension of US government funding affecting thousands of people in a number of countries.
Foreign aid programs help people around the world in various ways, providing food, healthcare, education, economic development, and disaster relief. It has been a key part of US foreign policy and has proven to be an important factor in reducing global poverty. This type of assistance—from the United States as well as other governments and international institutions—has saved millions of lives. All that is now at risk.
The US is also withdrawing from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UN Human Rights Council, and the Paris Climate Agreement and will review its membership of UNESCO. In March the Trump administration stated that it “rejects and denounces” the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), the key global goals adopted by nations unanimously in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, aimed at tackling global environmental and social challenges.
For much of the 20th century, multilateralism was the glue that bound the global order, ensuring economic interdependence, collective security, and cooperative governance. The premise was that by weaving nations into an intricate web of shared interests, conflicts would be minimised, and trade would flourish. Yet, as the 21st century unfolds, the very nation that championed multilateralism is dismantling it piece by piece.
That these actions have been met with silence by so many Christians is both difficult to comprehend and a source of a feeling of despair. A key Trump appointee Elon Musk recently stated that the fundamental weakness of western civilisation is empathy – surely a statement totally at odds with the teaching of Jesus.
Nevertheless as the recent celebration of Easter reminds us that grief can pass, that resurrection can follow death. That must remain our hope.