Trump review of foreign aid reopens debate: How reliable is the US?

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Tucked away in last year’s $60 billion U.S. foreign aid budget was a $15 million drop in the ocean.

Literally. The money paid for projects in Pacific island nations to help them cope with rising sea levels caused by climate change.

Many American taxpayers might think this was just a do-good expenditure of no relevance to them.

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The temporary freeze in U.S. foreign aid, which sowed confusion and panic among U.S. aid agencies and foreign recipients alike, raises anew the issue of how, in a competitive world, Washington helps itself by helping others.

But the point of the budget line was not to be charitable. It rarely is with foreign aid. The underlying purpose was to further a long-term strategic goal – in this case, countering China’s rising dominance by making the United States the reliable partner of choice in the region.

Thousands of such U.S.-funded projects around the world – from counterterrorism projects in the Horn of Africa to women’s small-business development programs in Central America – have been left in limbo since Secretary of State Marco Rubio froze foreign aid and issued stop-work orders on USAID-funded projects.

Secretary Rubio said Jan. 24 he was launching a full review of the U.S. foreign aid budget – the world’s largest – to bring it in line with President Donald Trump’s “America first” foreign policy.

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