South Africa, where a G20 meeting devoted to the fight against poverty opened on February 26, can measure the triumph of national egoisms by the many absences among the finance ministers invited for the occasion. One shadow hangs over the meeting in Cape Town: the offensive launched in Washington against the US agency in charge of development aid, USAID, described as a "viper's nest" by Elon Musk, who is tasked by Donald Trump with an ideological overhaul of the federal state.
The richest man in the world has decided to abruptly cut health and food aid programs that benefit the world's poorest populations. No matter the consequences, which will be measured in lost lives. It's a question, no more, no less, of reversing once and for all a pillar of American soft power.
Washington's about-turn is all the more troubling in that no way is emerging to offset the $70 billion spent annually by the United States, the biggest contributor, on international aid. By way of example, the foundation set up by billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates (which contributes to the funding of Le Monde's Africa section) allocates less than $2 billion to health, whereas USAID used to disburse six times as much for AIDS treatments and the fight against epidemics.
The World Bank, of which the US is the main shareholder, is not expected to help. Faced with economic difficulties, China has already reduced the amount of loans it grants to developing countries, mainly to finance infrastructure projects rather than health or education programs.
A head-on challenge
The world's other major powers are also facing trade-offs against international aid. On February 25, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a reduction (from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP) in this aid in favor of the defense budget.
The same trend can be seen in France, where President Emmanuel Macron had pledged, through a multi-year budget planning law, to increase international aid to 0.7% of GDP by 2025. After a significant increase during his first term in office, the trajectory has since been reversed, as with his European neighbors. This decline coincides with a head-on challenge to this aid. The offensive led by far-right elected representatives predates Trump's return to the White House, but it is clearly inspired by the simplistic slogans hammered home in the US to denounce a waste of taxpayer money.
On the defensive, the director general of the French Development Agency, Rémy Rioux, seems to believe that the only audible plea is a utilitarian one in which France is presented as the main beneficiary of the loans granted. Rioux pointed to the €3 billion worth of contracts that benefit French companies, as well as the 40,000 jobs for young French people created by official development assistance.
This kind of rhetoric undermines the values on which it is founded: solidarity and the desire to reduce wealth disparities with poor countries. Because it can contribute to reducing the world's problems, from which no country is immune, international aid must be defended tooth and nail.