Reactions to USAID Closure Highlight Divisions Over America’s Global Role

The dissolution of the U.S. Agency for International Development has sparked widespread reaction across political and international circles, revealing deep divisions over the future of America’s foreign aid programs. While some hailed the move as a long-overdue effort to rein in government inefficiency, others viewed it as a dangerous retreat from U.S. humanitarian commitments abroad.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who served as acting administrator during USAID’s final weeks, emphasized that the decision would streamline foreign assistance and align it with national interests. “Beyond creating a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense, USAID has little to show since the end of the Cold War,” Rubio stated. He described the new approach as one that “prioritizes accountability, strategy, and efficiency.”

Under the Trump administration’s plan, the State Department will oversee all future foreign aid initiatives beginning July 1. DOGE’s review claimed to have uncovered over $22 billion in federal waste, including controversial overseas funding for social and cultural programs. In a March address to Congress, President Trump cited examples such as grants for “diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma” and “programs to promote LGBTQI+ causes in Africa,” arguing that such expenditures had little to do with advancing American interests.

Not everyone agreed. In his remarks, Bono, a longtime advocate for global health and poverty reduction, expressed sorrow over the agency’s end. Reading a poem he had written for the occasion, he said, “They called you crooks. When you were the best of us.” Obama and Bono were described as emotional during the farewell, while Bush focused on preserving the legacy of U.S.-led health initiatives in Africa.

With USAID’s formal integration into the State Department, debate continues over whether its closure represents reform or regression. For many career employees, the end of the agency signals not only the loss of a job but the dismantling of an institution that, for more than six decades, embodied America’s promise to extend its values of compassion, partnership, and progress to the rest of the world.