US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on 1 July 2025 that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has ended all of its operations—a move hailed as a significant victory for sovereignist, patriotic forces worldwide.
‘During the Trump Administration’s thorough review of thousands of programmes and over $715 billion in inflation-adjusted spending over the decades, it became apparent the US Agency for International Development (USAID) fell well below this standard,’ Rubio wrote in a Substack post titled ‘Make Foreign Aid Great Again’ on Tuesday. He noted that ‘since the Cold War, USAID has built a globe-spanning NGO complex at taxpayer expense but achieved little: development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown.’
Rubio listed billions of US taxpayers’ dollars spent in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa, where, despite significant investment, Washington’s favourability ratings remain lower than China’s. More often than not, he claimed, aid funds enriched NGO elites rather than local communities.
‘This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end,’ Rubio declared, stating that under Trump, ‘we will finally have a foreign funding mission…that prioritizes our national interests.’ According to the Secretary of State, the remaining USAID programmes will be transferred to the State Department for greater ‘accountability, strategy, and efficiency.’
Rubio criticized USAID for functioning as a global charity that often ‘promoted anti-American ideals’, rather than advancing US interests. The new approach, he said, favours ‘trade over aid, opportunity over dependency,’ aiming to counter China’s influence and ensure that aid recipients ‘know the assistance…is an investment from the American people.’
One of the first major initiatives of the second Trump administration was a comprehensive review of USAID’s activities, which many critics had viewed as a ‘regime change’ apparatus promoting a network of NGOs and media outlets aligned with globalist goals and seeking to undermine sovereign governments. The review was led by former co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk, who revealed that billions of US taxpayer dollars had funded foreign political interference—including substantial sums channelled to Hungarian NGOs and media outlets critical of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government.
In 2022, a national intelligence investigation found that USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)—a US government-funded NGO—were involved in a scheme to funnel millions of US taxpayer dollars to Hungary’s opposition during the parliamentary election campaign. In 2023, USAID Administrator Samantha Power visited Hungary to meet with opposition figures and journalists, a visit she described as an effort to ‘make a change’ in the country—a statement interpreted by some as an admission of attempts to organize a colour revolution in Hungary.
To examine how USAID funds had found their way to Hungary, PM Orbán appointed András László as government commissioner, who travelled to Washington to gather information to protect Hungary’s national interests. Subsequently, Hungary’s governing parties proposed a bill titled the ‘transparency law’, aiming to sanction outlets and NGOs receiving foreign funding while engaging in political activities in Hungary. The proposal met with significant public opposition, as well as pressure from the European Commission, and has been delayed for further debate in the autumn parliamentary session.
Political Director to the Hungarian Prime Minister Balázs Orbán welcomed Rubio’s announcement on Tuesday, posting on X: ‘RIP to revolutions brought to you by U.S. Embassies & USAID dollars. Thank you @SecRubio.’ He added: ‘Let’s make national interest-driven foreign policy great again!’
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