Canada is “deeply concerned” about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the United States’ lead foreign aid agency, federal government officials say amid growing alarm about the impact to global charities and aid programs.
The administration said this week it is pulling all employees at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) off the job and out of the field globally by the end of Friday unless they are deemed essential.
The agency’s website was replaced with that removal notice on Monday, its social media accounts are down, and all funding has been frozen as U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies target what they call wasteful spending by many USAID programs.
USAID works with several international partners, including Canada, to respond to humanitarian crises and support vulnerable populations worldwide, a spokesperson for International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen said in an emailed statement to Global News.
“Canada is deeply concerned by the U.S. administration’s decision to shut down USAID,” the spokesperson said.
“The loss of USAID’s leadership and resources represents a dangerous retreat that risks decades of progress in fighting inequality, starvation, pandemics, and authoritarianism. This decision will hit hardest for those who depend on aid for food security, health care, and emergency relief.”
The U.S. is the world’s largest humanitarian donor by far.
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It spends less than one per cent of its budget on foreign assistance, a smaller share than several European countries. Canada also spends less than one per cent of its GDP on foreign aid.
USAID funds projects in some 120 countries aimed at fighting epidemics, educating children, providing clean water and supporting other areas of development.
But Trump and allies like Elon Musk have also zeroed in on programs the agency funds that promote diversity and inclusion, particularly for LGBTQ2+ people and gender equality.
Canada has partnered with USAID on several projects over the past decade, including water management in Peru and humanitarian relief in Gaza and the West Bank. Many of the projects listed in an online partner profile noted gender equality as a “significant” outcome or goal, in line with Canada’s stated priorities for foreign aid.
“Canada has been clear — foreign aid is not a handout, it’s an investment in the safety, security, and well-being of Canadians and communities around the world,” the spokesperson for Hussen’s office said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been named the acting director of USAID, has defended the agency’s shutdown and said foreign aid will continue after a “from the bottom up” review.
“This is not about ending foreign aid. It is about structuring it in a way that furthers the national interest of the United States,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday in Guatemala City.
Democratic lawmakers have protested outside USAID’s shuttered Washington offices this week, calling the actions spearheaded by Musk “illegal” and a “coup.”
The USAID notice said essential personnel “responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs” would be informed by Thursday afternoon if they will be kept on.
The mass removal of thousands of staffers would doom billions of dollars in international projects, including security assistance for Ukraine and other countries, as well as development work for clean water, job training and education, including for schoolgirls under Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
The shutdown means health programs — like those credited with helping end polio and smallpox epidemics and an acclaimed HIV/AIDS program, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), that saved more than 20 million lives in Africa — already have stopped.
So have monitoring and deployments of rapid-response teams for contagious diseases, such as an Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of food and medication already delivered by U.S. companies are sitting in ports because of the administration’s sudden shutdown of the agency.
Lauren Ravon, the executive director of Oxfam Canada, told Global News the international aid community is “scrambling” to stay afloat. Oxfam doesn’t receive USAID funding directly but partners with organizations that do.
“There isn’t a country or a community on this planet that hasn’t had some level of support from USAID,” she said, from health-care systems to civil society and refugee aid programs.
Ravon said Oxfam, which focuses on promoting women’s rights and sexual and reproductive freedom around the world, is concerned those initiatives will suffer even if USAID returns in a more limited capacity.
Hussen’s office said Canada will continue its foreign aid missions without U.S. government partners.
“Our government will not back down from its international commitments,” it said. “Global challenges demand collective action, and we will continue to do our part by forging new partnerships that support peace, security, and prosperity for all.”
Ravon said filling the gap left by USAID is “almost insurmountable.”
“The world has been facing a record levels of humanitarian crises, so the humanitarian system as a whole was already overstretched,” she said. “Having the bottom fall out has huge implications.”
—With files from the Associated Press
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