Filling the Gap: Australia’s Opportunity in the Wake of the USAID Cuts

In only a few short months, the second Trump administration has delivered a concerted attack on key pillars of a globalised world long taken for granted. One of the largest casualties of this has been the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The administration has frozen resourcing to USAID, with the expectation that 83 per cent of programmes could be cut and the remainder transferred to the State Department.

The apparent and abrupt end to USAID has left a gulf in the funding of multilateral organisations and international development projects aimed at achieving sustainable development around the world. The finance, resources, and expertise lost from the sector is not guaranteed to return despite ongoing legal challenges or under a future administration.

The gap this leaves also comes at a geopolitically sensitive moment for the Indo-Pacific amid China’s growing economic and development influence. A decreasing US development presence in the region will cede further influence, raising concerns for Australia’s regional relationships and security.

Despite this, Australia has both a strategic opportunity and a moral responsibility to help fill the gap left by USAID’s demise. This can be done by leveraging its financial, logistical, technical, and labour capabilities to promote values of sustainable development and enhance regional security through soft power diplomacy.