The US’s decision to freeze international aid will likely cause “blowback” for the world’s largest economy, Ghana’s President John Mahama said.
President Donald Trump last month froze foreign assistance administered by the US Agency for International Development, threatening to disrupt programs to combat polio, HIV/AIDS and other diseases in Africa. While some exceptions have since been made, many programs have yet to resume operations.
“America has a right to recalibrate and freeze its international assistance to other countries but there is also a blowback,” Mahama said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Jennifer Zabasajja on Friday.
“America loses soft power because USAID is a well-known brand of America and it intervenes in very critical areas,” he said. “If America decides that it doesn’t want to intervene in those areas, it is possible that other countries might decide to fill that gap.”
Ghana was expecting $156 million from the US in 2025, of which $78 million would have been for health care. To cover the gap, it now plans to cut expenditure in some areas, which is set to “make things tighter,” Mahama said, noting this teaches the country “a lesson in self reliance.”
The US’s decision could also negatively impact its farmers.
USAID is the biggest supplier of food aid in many places, Mahama said. It buys the food from its farmers who now stand to lose a significant chunk of business, he said.
“This is a disruption that is happening, maybe a new world order will be born out of it,” he said. “The Trump playbook is still playing out.”
