Trump Dismantling USAID: An Egyptian Perspective

USAID, to put it, is one of the most important soft power tools that is in disposal of the United States, and second-term President Donald Trump is simply gutting USAID, plain and simple. We are well aware that many supporters of Trump won't agree with my opinion, but we were asked by our editor to present our opinion from a young Egyptian's perspective here, so we will.

Since its establishment in 1961, USAID has served multiple purposes–as a front for the CIA, as an intermediary between the American government and pro-U.S NGOs in political interventions, and sometimes, as an aid agency that does what its mission statement says. USAID's behaviors change depending on the country they are in and the objectives and tendencies of the U.S. administration of the time.

After the 1973 October War (known in the USA as the Yom Kippur), Egypt firmly shifted from the Soviet to the American camp by the early 1980s. Coinciding with this shift in Egyptian foreign policy, USAID first entered Egypt in 1978. Egypt, by then, had been in six wars over a tumultuous period of less than 40 years. Even with major projects to green the desert like the Aswan Dam, the Egyptian economy of the 1970s was not developing so well. At that time, Egyptian civil society was also not so well-developed. USAID came to Egypt during that era due to the assumption by the authorities that it would help improve the quality of life for Egyptian citizens.

Since 1978, USAID has procured around $30 billion in grants for use in Egypt. Clearly the USAID Egypt program has not been cheap for the American taxpayer. USAID's programs in Egypt have been very well developed, and the agency involves itself in many projects. It pays for student grants in several Egyptian universities for their own projects or to fly Egyptian students to America on scholarship. It also pays for several programs in the public and private sectors. USAID pays for the development and maintenance of natural and historical sites, several Egyptian businesses of small and medium size also have grants given to them by USAID to foster entrepreneurial spirit. And as has been mentioned before, USAID heavily involves itself in higher education, in Egyptian universities. That is, some would say, USAID has been 'talent scouting' where future senior Egyptian civil servants and politicians are educated.

USAID has issued grants for important sectors of the Egyptian economy, such as Agriculture, Trade, and Tourism, it has involved itself in other programs such as improving governance, water and sanitation, and women’s empowerment. It also gets itself involved in civic programs. So to state that USAID programs in Egypt are small would not be accurate–sometimes they have projects involving tens of millions of dollars, such as the wastewater ponds in Luxor and providing clean water for 450,000 people in the northern Sinai Peninsula. Which happens to be a strategic area and high priority for Cairo.

However, since the election of Donald Trump, he has trained his sights on USAID, deeming it a “useless” organization. Which for all intents and purposes, it most definitely is not, USAID has been both a tool for the CIA, and sometimes it has created some highly positive optics for the US government in Africa and other parts of the developing world. But amid allegations that some USAID money was routed to celebrities and dubious organizations abroad--especially in Ukraine--which have been highly critical of Trump and his MAGA movement, as well as pet projects and Black Lives Matter G-NGOs linked to his domestic political opponents in the Democratic Party, Trump and his chief billionaire ally Elon Musk are taking USAID down. And in support of this effort, former State Department official Mike Benz has stood at the forefront on X and in various podcast interviews with Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson among USAID's fiercest critics.

USAID in Egypt shutting down has already had some consequences over the past two weeks. Several grants and scholarships at the American University of Cairo has been cancelled. These are scholarships given to students who worked tooth and nail to have the right of an education, and this has happened not just at the AUC, but at other prominent Egyptian universities as well. In some universities the administration decided to pay for their scholarships themselves, in others, they have informed the students they must either find a sponsor or they have to resign from their studies. And sometimes Egypt's Ministry of Higher Education, which chronically lacks sufficient funds for many programs, has decided to continue the funding for these scholarships.

So this is, thus far, the most tangible result that came out of Donald Trump moving against USAID: with the signature of a pen he has completely upset and put thousands of students not only in Egypt, but across the Middle East and Africa (MENA) at risk of discontinuing their scholarships. Of course, the stress on these students who are anywhere from young adolescents to aspiring adults is quite high.

USAID also employs 1,200 employees in this country, most of them Egyptians, they all state they have not had their salaries paid for January, and that some of them have already went back to their countries of origin. USAID had around nine active programs in Egypt, several of which work with Egyptian ministries. You can still find many of these programs listed on the US Embassy in Cairo's website.

USAID most involved program relates to the healthcare. Without funding and them pulling out, the Egyptian medical sector may take a small hit, but it's still too early to say what will be the long-term effects of the attack on USAID back in Washington on Egypt. But, we know for certain that the results won't be good, we will see what programs get refunded by Congress after the 90-day limit that Trump placed on the agency. But we know this for sure–USAID pulling out of Egypt abruptly like this is not good, not for Egyptians, and not for the Egyptian government and Egyptians views of Washington's reliability as a partner.

But hey, at least one good thing came out of it, no more funding for G-NGOs that the Egyptian government deems “problematic”, or for gay and feminist activism in Egypt. But the cons outweighs any pros here. Allow me to explain why, as someone who cannot be accused of being naïve about the history of American foreign interference in Egypt or other countries in this region.

It's true that USAID Funds at the 2000s were used to nurture activist groups and anti-President Hosni Mubarak elements, who would later help in the overthrow of the decades-tenured Mubarak by popular demand during the 2011 Arab Spring. However, the Egyptian government since then has rather neutered USAIDs ability to fund political NGOs, any social programs they are involved in are heavily monitored, and most of the USAID programs are not related to political programs, but to economic, healthcare, and social development. Since the 2010s most USAID programs have been targeted at sustainable development projects and private sector growth and innovation, and new legislation since the 2010s prevents any foreign funding of political groups. This is the same foreign agents law that was met with months of protests in the Republic of Georgia and has been implemented in Russia, Belarus and now most likely in Kazakhstan as well.