US Development Policy

The Trump administration has drastically cut US refugee admissions—effectively eliminating nearly half of the world’s total resettlement spots. New data analysis from Michael Clemens explores the implications of these policies.

In warning APEC leaders last week of China’s “constricting belt” and “one-way road,” Vice President Mike Pence provided the clearest signal yet that the US approach to foreign assistance will be shaped, if not determined, by competition with China. In the context of the administration’s trade war with China, this may not come as much of a surprise. But when it comes to the conduct of foreign assistance, it marks a striking turn away from the bipartisan approach to aid since the end of the Cold War—an approach defined around cooperation and one aimed at curbing the bad practices that arise when donors compete for the allegiance of aid recipients.

In the biggest step forward in US development policy since the creation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and PEPFAR, Congress approved legislation to establish a new, modernized US development finance agency.

Today, USAID took a big step forward on a new effort that could make a real difference to the agency’s impact and cost-effectiveness.