The abrupt closure of USAID and the corresponding cuts in foreign assistance from the United States are deeply troubling in many ways. 

Several of the actions taken were probably illegal. The people serving at USAID and their implementing partners were treated in extraordinarily unprofessional and demeaning ways, and tens of thousands of people lost their jobs. Millions of people in low and middle-income countries around the world suddenly faced reduced access to life-saving drugs and medicines, food shortages, and cuts in other essential services. Upwards of 25 million lives may be lost. Countries have lost trust in the U.S. 

The damage is deep.

Unfortunately, the actions at USAID are just one part of a larger and dangerous shift in U.S. foreign policy. Instead of continuing to try to use its power to build partnerships and alliances with other countries to create a safer, rules-based, more prosperous world, the U.S. is now using its position to extract concessions, bully friends and enemies, and enrich itself at the expense of others. 

Upwards of 25 million lives may be lost. Countries have lost trust in the United States.

This strongarm approach ultimately will be bad for almost everyone, including the people of the U.S.

Following World War II, a broad consensus emerged among Republicans and Democrats alike that to address the huge challenges the world faced — the rise of communism, the aftermath of the Great Depression, the threat of nuclear war — the U.S. had to forge alliances with like-minded countries around the world. 

The core foundation of U.S. foreign policy since then has been that the U.S. and its partners were weaker when acting alone, and stronger when acting together towards a cooperative, mutually beneficial world order. This collaborative approach gave rise to military alliances like NATO; multilateral organizations such as the UN, the World Bank, the IMF, and the WTO; and deep bilateral partnerships with countries around the world, including former bitter enemies such as  Germany and Japan.  

Instead of building partnerships and alliances, the U.S. is now using its power to extract concessions, bully friends and enemies, and enrich itself at the expense of others.

Foreign aid has been a pillar of this approach ever since the launch of the Marshall Plan in 1948. President Harry Truman put foreign aid at the core of U.S. foreign policy in his second inaugural address (his famous “Point Four” speech) in 1949. 

Over the last 75 years, Washington has provided aid to help fight poverty, disease, and hunger; to strengthen governance and democracy; and to build more resilient societies. It has done so in part for humanitarian purposes to help people in need, but its primary goal has always been to build alliances to further U.S. foreign policy interests, whether fighting communism, building markets for U.S. companies, advancing democracy, securing access to oil and other resources, stopping disease threats, or combatting terrorism and international crime. 

Without question, the U.S. has made many mistakes. At times it has abused its power and caused great harm, including in Vietnam and Iraq, through many coups d’états, and with its support for dozens of ruthless dictators. 

But overall, the approach of building partnerships and alliances to create a better world has been enormously successful. Over the last 80 years, the U.S. became the strongest and richest country in the world, its allies gained security and prosperity, nuclear war has been averted, and poor countries achieved the largest declines in poverty, hunger, and disease in the history of the world.  

USAID was a far from perfect organization, but its programs unquestionably saved millions of lives through the Green Revolution, global childhood vaccination programs, PEPFAR, and many other initiatives. For all its flaws, the U.S. became the model that other countries tried to emulate and follow.  

The current administration is abandoning this approach and replacing it with a version of old-fashioned strongman unilateralism. It equates partnership with weakness, since partnership requires patience, mutual respect, and compromise. 

It claims that other countries have taken advantage of and weakened the U.S., even though the U.S. has unquestionably been the primary beneficiary of the world order since 1945. 

It is using its power to make threats and extract concessions, even from its closest allies, including Canada and the U.K. 

It is threatening to dismantle or weaken core partnerships, including NATO, the World Health Organization, and a range of multilateral organizations. 

It is trying to bully other countries into submission to take what it wants, from Venezuela’s oil to all of Greenland. 

The U.S. often seems to be taking these actions for purely selfish and short-sighted reasons that are antithetical to the long-term interests of our country. As the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently put it, “Although the administration has framed this as an ‘America first’ agenda that will strengthen the nation’s standing around the world and bring prosperity at home, the U.S. national interest now appears tethered to the president’s personal vanities, prejudices, and his political and financial interests.”

The big beneficiaries will be China and Russia.

This unilateral approach will ultimately fail. It will weaken the U.S., undermine security alliances, damage the global trading system, and make us more vulnerable to terrorist attacks and global disease outbreaks. The big beneficiaries will be China and Russia. 

At some point the U.S. will recognize, as did the leaders of the post-World War II generation, that we are weaker alone, and stronger through partnerships and alliances. 

Perhaps we can build back better. Perhaps. The demise of the old system provides an opportunity to create more effective international organizations and institutions that distribute power more equitably and are built to address today’s most pressing challenges, including climate change, rising conflict, increasing disease threats, and continued poverty. There is a chance to develop aid programs that address these problems more effectively, while building more resilient institutions in low and middle-income countries. 

We must all do everything we can to fight through today’s challenges and work towards that future. Unfortunately, in the meantime, great damage has been done, and the U.S. may never reclaim its unquestioned position as the world’s most powerful and admired leader.