NewsPronto

 
The Times


.

USA Conversation

The Conversation USA

The Conversation USA

As Trump tries to slash US foreign aid, here are 3 common myths many Americans mistakenly believe about it

  • Written by Joannie Tremblay-Boire, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland
imageU.S. lawmakers and employees and supporters of the U.S. Agency for International Development speak outside the agency's headquarters on Feb. 3, 2025.Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

U.S. foreign aid is in disarray.

The Trump administration froze most aid disbursements on Jan. 20. According to billionaire Elon Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump...

Read more: As Trump tries to slash US foreign aid, here are 3 common myths many Americans mistakenly believe...

More Articles ...

  1. Trump’s opening tariff salvo will hurt US consumers − following through on Canada, Mexico threats will increase the price pain
  2. Trump’s tariff gambit: As allies prepare to strike back, a costly trade war looms
  3. Who are immigrants to the US, where do they come from and where do they live?
  4. What the ‘moral distress’ of doctors tells us about eroding trust in health care
  5. Some viruses prefer mosquitoes to humans, but people get sick anyway − a virologist and entomologist explain why
  6. Smart brands rein in ad spending when a rival faces a setback − here’s why
  7. Hunger rises as food aid falls – and those living under autocratic systems bear the brunt
  8. Why are rubies red and emeralds green? Their colors come from the same metal in their atomic structure
  9. I’m a sports psychologist and diehard Eagles fan – here’s the behavioral science behind a Super Bowl LIX win
  10. I’m a sports psychologist and diehard Eagles fan - here’s the behavioral science behind a Super Bowl LIX win
  11. Musk’s inauguration salute is not the only apparent fascist signal from Trump’s administration
  12. President Trump may think he is President Jackson reincarnated − but there are lessons in Old Hickory’s resistance to sycophants
  13. 3 ways the Trump administration could reinvest in rural America’s future
  14. 3 ways the Trump administration could reinvest in rural America’s future, starting with health care
  15. Trump’s Project 2025 agenda caps decades-long resistance to 20th century progressive reform
  16. Trump’s tariff threats fit a growing global phenomenon: hardball migration diplomacy
  17. Drought can hit almost anywhere: How 5 cities that nearly ran dry got water use under control
  18. Fossil shark teeth are abundant and can date the past in a unique way
  19. Rare portraits reveal the humanity of the slaves who revolted on the Amistad
  20. Your environment affects how well your medications work − identifying exactly how could make medicine better
  21. Where does black fall on the color spectrum? A color scientist explains
  22. The Black librarian who rewrote the rules of power, gender and passing as white
  23. Bogus scientific papers are enriching fraudsters and slowing lifesaving medical research
  24. Property and sovereignty in space − as countries and companies take to the stars, they could run into disputes
  25. Can a charter school be religious? The Supreme Court decision about St. Isidore, a Catholic school in Oklahoma, could redraw lines around church and state in education
  26. AI gives nonprogrammers a boost in writing computer code
  27. Teens on social media: Red, blue and purple states are all passing laws to restrict and protect adolescents
  28. Nonprofits that provide shelter for homeless people, disaster recovery help, and food for low-income Americans rely heavily on federal funding – they would be reeling if Trump froze that money
  29. From breakbeats to the dance floor: How hip-hop and house revolutionized music and culture
  30. How nonprofits abroad can fill gaps when the US government cuts off foreign aid
  31. Biden targeted the online right-wing terrorism threat − now it’s up to Trump
  32. A federal policy expert weighs in on Trump’s efforts to stifle gender-affirming care for Americans under 19
  33. How satellites and AI help fight wildfires today
  34. Why Trump’s meme coin is a cash grab
  35. Stricter abortion laws may cause increased infant deaths − 2 maternal and child health researchers explain the data
  36. ‘We painted our fear, hope and dreams’ − examining the art and artists of Guantánamo Bay
  37. Gen Z seeks safety above all else as the generation grows up amid constant crisis and existential threat
  38. Philly Whole Foods store becomes first to unionize – a labor expert explains what’s next and how Trump could stall workers’ efforts
  39. Bennu asteroid reveals its contents to scientists − and clues to how the building blocks of life on Earth may have been seeded
  40. Problematic Paper Screener: Trawling for fraud in the scientific literature
  41. Why building big AIs costs billions – and how Chinese startup DeepSeek dramatically changed the calculus
  42. Fake papers are contaminating the world’s scientific literature, fueling a corrupt industry and slowing legitimate lifesaving medical research
  43. Rest, reorientation and hope – the pillars of 2025’s Catholic Jubilee year
  44. President Carter had to balance employers’ demands for foreign workers with pressure to restrict immigration – and so does Trump
  45. Skin phantoms help researchers improve wearable devices without people wearing them
  46. Almost half of evicted women and families in metro Detroit say they were illegally pushed out of their homes
  47. ‘Aliens’ and ‘animals’ – language of hate used by Trump and others can be part of a violent design
  48. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination signals a new era of anti-intellectualism in American politics
  49. What’s behind Trump’s flurry of executive action: 4 essential reads on autocrats and authoritarianism
  50. Commerce oversees everything from weather and salmon to trade and census − here are 3 challenges awaiting new secretary