The development community reacted with shock when President Donald Trump’s budget called for cuts of more than 30 percent to the U.S. foreign assistance program. While the shape of Trump’s approach to development will still go through many iterations, the fact remains that a sitting U.S. president calculated that there would be no significant political fallout to potentially gutting America’s aid programs.
A look at the history of public opinion toward foreign assistance programs helps explain why and is essential in helping the community come to grips with where it now finds itself.
The above excerpt was originally published in Devex.
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