据报道，特朗普政府正在游说其他国家支持一项新的“贸易替代援助”计划，该计划旨在通过投资美国公司而非大肆挥霍海外开发项目，来推广“美国优先”的价值观。
据《华盛顿邮报》报道，国务卿马尔科·卢比奥周三命令外交官在月底联合国会议提交该提案之前，开始评估各方支持情况。他在一份外交电报中解释了将如何利用联合国“推广美国优先价值观并为美国公司创造商业机会”，并称美国已进入“建立在亲商政策、去监管、减税和自由化能源产业基础上的新黄金时代”。
“是私营业务发展了世界上所有成功的经济体，而不是政府援助，”一份美国外交说明中写道。该文件批评富裕国家在外国援助项目上挥霍了数十亿美元，“几十年来，政府援助从发达国家流向发展中国家，影响极其有限。它没有解决世界的经济发展挑战，反而常常制造依赖、低效和腐败”。
在特朗普总统开启第二个任期数周后，相关计划披露将通过削减美国国际开发署（USAID）92%的赠款，取消约600亿美元的对外援助支出。审计确定了近1.5万项赠款，并针对其中的近1万项予以取消。美国国务院誓言要解决过去几十年中存在的所谓援助弊端。
The Trump administration is reportedly lobbying other nations to back a new “trade over aid” initiative, which would see them promoting “America First” values by investing in US companies – instead of splurging on overseas development projects.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomats Wednesday to start gauging support for the proposal before it’s put forward at the United Nations at the end of the month, the Washington Post reported.
In a cable, he explained how the United Nations would be used to “promote America First values and create business opportunities for U.S. companies,” boasting that America has entered a “new Golden Age built on a booming economy fueled by pro-business policies: deregulation, lower taxes and a liberated energy industry.”
Cargo ships docked at a port in Qingdao, China, with cranes overhead and shipping containers covering the dock. AFP via Getty Images
“It was private business that developed all the world’s successful economies, not government aid.”
A US diplomatic note, seen by Devex, shredded how richer nations have splurged billions of dollars on foreign aid projects.
“For decades, government aid has been flowing from developed to developing countries with only limited impact,” it says.
“It has not solved the world’s economic development challenges, and it has often created dependency, inefficiency, and corruption.”
Weeks after President Trump was inaugurated for the second time, plans were unveiled to eliminate approximately $60 billion in foreign aid spending by cutting 92% of grants issued by the US Agency for International Development – before it was later absolved into the State Department.
The audit identified nearly 15,000 grants and targeted almost 10,000 for elimination — the majority of which were issued by USAID – and first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
Aid workers moving grain bags in Ethiopia as part of an operation run by USAID. Getty Images
The US State Department vowed to address decades of so-called “institutional drift,” according to a memo seen by the outlet, and reform the way Washington delivers foreign assistance.
“Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safe? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” the note said.
The Free Beacon reported in March 2023 how the Biden administration gave the green light to spend up to $1 million of taxpayer cash on helping disabled people in Tajikistan become so-called climate leaders.
Senior State Department official Jeremy Lewin told The Post in January, “Every dollar of foreign assistance has to advance the American national interest.”
Western nations such as the UK are among those who have joined the US in cutting foreign aid expenditure amid a rise in defense spending because of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict.
In February last year, UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, announced plans to increase foreign defense spend