Trump plans 'America First' foreign aid funding shift, document shows

The Trump administration intends to shift $1.8 billion in foreign aid funding toward "America First" initiatives such as pursuing investments in Greenland and countering "Marxist, anti-American regimes" in Latin America, according to a document sent to Congress.

"The national security interests of the United States require that the United States utilise these foreign assistance funds to meet new challenges in ways that make America safer, stronger, or more prosperous," according to the Congressional Notification reviewed by Reuters yesterday (24 September).

The administration's plan to shift the funding from programmes previously authorised by Congress was first reported by The Washington Post. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump's administration has been pursuing a massive overhaul of foreign assistance since the Republican began his second term in January. The strategy is a departure from the long-held assumption that food, medical and economic assistance is an important "soft power" component of US global influence.

In the notification, dated 12 September, the administration says the $1.8 billion would be obligated for programmes to "strengthen US global leadership," to focus on several areas central to Trump administration policy.

These include diversifying critical mineral supply chains, promoting strategic infrastructure investment and development, countering China's influence and "addressing the immigration crisis."

The document says $400 million would support efforts involving Europe, including energy and critical minerals programming in Ukraine and economic development and conservation work in Greenland.

Trump has said he wants to take control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. The strategically located island is rich in oil, natural gas and many minerals needed for high-tech industries.

In the western hemisphere, the document says, $400 million would support activities to end illegal immigration to the US, counter China's dominance in critical minerals and artificial intelligence and "confront the Marxist, anti-American regimes of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua."

USAID dismantled

Since January, the administration has dismantled the US Agency for International Development, frozen and then slashed billions of dollars of foreign aid, saying it wants to ensure US taxpayer money goes only to programmes aligned with Trump's "America First" policies.

The cutbacks effectively shut down USAID, leading to the firing of thousands of its employees and contractors. That jeopardised the delivery of life-saving food and medical aid and has thrown global humanitarian relief operations into chaos.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the plan outlined in the notification subverted Congress' power, outlined in the Constitution, to control how government money is spent.

"Funding politically driven, unaccountable, pet projects in place like Greenland or using aid to pressure African governments on immigration is out of step with America's foreign policy interests and an abuse of Americans' tax dollars," she said in a statement.

Aides to Senator Jim Risch, the committee's Republican chairman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In July, as he marked the formal transfer of USAID to the State Department as part of Trump's unprecedented push to shrink the federal government, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was abandoning what he called a charity-based model and would focus on empowering countries to grow sustainably.

Foreign aid traditionally has accounted for only about 1% of the federal budget.