These are major American policy announcements with massive implications for the rest of the world, delivered in an off-the-cuff style by President Donald Trump and his billionaire strategist, Elon Musk.

Speaking after visiting his home in Florida, Mr Trump said the US government’s international aid and development arm, USAID, was “run by lunatics”.

The president, who was sworn in on 20 January for a second stint in the White House, added: “We’re getting them out, and then we’ll make a decision.”

Speaking on X, Mr Musk was more definitive, telling former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in an audio chat that USAID was finished.

“We’re in the process of shutting down USAID, the reason for that as opposed to simply trying to do some minor house cleaning is that as we dug into USAID it became apparent what we have here is not an apple with a worm in it, but we have actually just a bowl of worms…”

Mr Musk said he and the US president were in complete agreement as members of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) now circle the agency’s $40bn budget.

USAID represents just 1% of total US government spending and has largely been free of controversy, enjoying bi-partisan support from members of Congress.

The idea here is a straightforward one – that aid and development plays an important role in keeping Americans safe in the world – along with defence and diplomacy.

However, it seems members of Mr Trump’s team – and the president himself – share a visceral dislike for the department and its mission in the world.

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On X, Mr Musk fired off the following missives as members of his DOGE task force tried to gain access to the department’s digital and physical infrastructure over the weekend.

“USAID was a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.”

He also said: “USAID is a criminal organisation. Time for it to die.”

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Clearly, the department is now viewed as an easy target for an administration promising to drastically reduce government spending. Conservative voters are unlikely to complain, even if these cuts result in chaos overseas.

Musk called it “simply common sense”.

Yet that is not how it will be viewed internationally. The US funded more than 40% of the world’s international aid spending in 2024. No other single donor comes close.

Some programmes are funded directly through USAID – like frontline care for infectious disease, treatments and preventive measures that help avert millions of deaths from AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases.

Then, there are the international agencies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, that receive the largest portion of their funding from the Americans.

Countless life-saving initiatives have already been frozen.

President Trump signed an executive order after the inauguration, halting new foreign aid spending for 90 days.

Soon after, secretary of state Marco Rubio ordered stop-work orders for virtually all existing programmes.

In Uganda, 600 employees at an NGO (non-governmental organisation) receiving funding under the US president’s PEPFAR plan for AIDS Relief – the world’s leading HIV initiative – have been suspended.

US aid officials involved in programmes designed to provide services to refugees – and support the local health system in Uganda – have also been sent home. These examples are now being replicated worldwide.

Mr Rubio has issued a number of waivers, authorising the distribution of life-saving aid, but the terms of these waivers have not been defined – and the direction of travel is clear.

A sense of crisis is now building worldwide as President Trump and his team ready themselves to shut USAID.

The measure, say critics, will endanger people’s lives.

It will also erode American influence in an increasingly dangerous world.