4.1 β’ 5.3K Ratings
ποΈ 26 December 2025
β±οΈ 12 minutes
ποΈ Recording | iTunes | RSS
π§ΎοΈ Download transcript
On the night of his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order that froze almost all international assistance.
What followed was the termination of billions of dollars in aid programs β and the dismantling of the U-S Agency for International Development. Now, the future of U.S. foreign assistance looks very different.
NPR global health correspondents Fatma Tanis and Gabrielle Emanuel have been following this all year and break down the impact of this move both on the ground and for the U.S.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Β
Email us at [email protected].
This episode was produced by Mallory Yu, with additional reporting by Jonathan Lambert. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon and Rebecca Davis. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | On the night of his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order that froze almost all international assistance for 90 days. |
| 0:08.5 | Shortly after that, the State Department has issued an expansion on President Trump's executive action Monday to freeze foreign assistance for 90 days. |
| 0:15.6 | In a memo, Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a pause on foreign aid spending and a stop work order for any existing humanitarian and development projects. |
| 0:26.2 | What followed was the termination of billions of dollars in aid, which funded everything from infrastructure building to vaccination programs to getting supplies into sensitive conflict zones. |
| 0:39.7 | Experts like Abby Maxman, |
| 0:44.9 | President of Oxfam America, warned at the time that this move could have a destabilizing effect in countries where that aid's critical. It's having seismic impacts for the entire global aid system. |
| 0:51.6 | And really, frankly, it's a cruel decision that has life or death consequences |
| 0:55.4 | for millions of people around the world. One small U.S. foreign aid program working to eliminate |
| 1:00.9 | so-called neglected tropical diseases was shut down this year. Those diseases affect more than |
| 1:07.7 | a billion people worldwide and can be debilitating. |
| 1:16.8 | Mamadu, Kui Bali, coordinate several disease elimination programs for the Mali Ministry of Health. |
| 1:20.7 | It was like a thunderbolt. |
| 1:24.1 | This lack of financing has stopped our activities. |
| 1:28.4 | He says the country has used its own money to fill the financial void, but it just isn't enough. These are diseases that make someone completely invalid. They have a very heavy |
| 1:37.0 | impact on the development of the country. There could be a return of these diseases if we're not |
| 1:42.0 | careful. Over in southwest Uganda, locals note that |
| 1:45.2 | refugees are spending less on food. That's because the U.S. has not renewed its contributions |
| 1:50.2 | to the U.N.'s World Food Program that helped them buy groceries. Economist Dean Carlin works on |
| 1:56.1 | anti-poverty programs in the region. Because of the cutbacks in aid, there was less economic activity going |
| 2:02.2 | on. The markets were not as thriving, and they could actually see that difference. As the Trump |
| 2:07.1 | administration ends its first year, some foreign aid money is flowing again, but much less than before. |
| 2:13.3 | And the future of U.S. foreign assistance now looks very different. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 19 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright Β© Tapesearch 2026.