The Trump administration's decision to eliminate more than 90 percent of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funding means "nothing's safe right now," a regional political expert says.
President Donald Trump's government has said it is slashing around US$60 billion in overall US development and humanitarian assistance around the world further its America First policy.
Last September, the former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said that Washington has "listened carefully" to Pacific Island nations and was making efforts to boost its diplomatic footprint in the region.
Campbell had announced that the US contributed US$25m to the Pacific-owned and led Pacific Resilience Facility - a fund endorsed by leaders to make it easier for Forum members to access climate financing for adaptation, disaster preparedness and early disaster response projects.
The US Agency for International Development headquarters in Washington as seen on September 9, 2019. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/AP via CNN Newsource
However, Trump's move has been said to have implications for the Pacific, which is one of the most aid-dependent regions in the world.
Research fellow at the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre Dr Terence Wood told Pacific Waves that, in the Pacific, the biggest impacts of the aid cut are likley to be felt by the three island nations in a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the US.
He said that while the compact "is safe" for three COFA states - Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau - "these are unprecedented times".
"It would be unprecedented if the US just tore them up. But then again, the United States is showing very little regard for agreements that it has entered into in the past, so I would say that nothing's safe right now."
