Policy Updates

On October 19, 2025, US President Donald Trump halted all US assistance to Colombia after Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the US of murdering a fisherman in a Caribbean strike meant to target the transportation of illicit drugs, ending hundreds of millions of dollars in American assistance.

Colombia received an estimated US$230 million in the US budget year that ended on September 30, 2025, already a significant decline from recent years, in which Colombia typically received at least twice as much funding. Trump stated all payments and subsidies to Colombia would cease and announced he would reveal new tariffs on October 20, 2025. Colombia is the top recipient of US assistance in Latin America, with funding previously set to exceed US$400 million at the start of 2025 before earlier cuts reduced it to approximately US$100 million.

Petro rejected accusations of complicity in the illicit drug trade and defended his government's counternarcotics efforts. The Colombian Foreign Ministry described Trump's statement as a direct threat to national sovereignty.

On October 17, 2025, at the G7 Development Minister’s Meeting in Washington, D.C., US Senior Official for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs and Religious Freedom Jeremy Lewin urged partners to prioritize efficient development programs that catalyze private investment and counter debt-trap diplomacy.

The meeting, held on the margins of the WBG and IMF Annual Meetings, focused on mobilizing private capital, reforming multilateral institutions, and increasing burden-sharing. Lewin urged partners to prioritize efficient development programs that bypass the ' NGO industrial complex,' catalyze private investment, and advance strategic imperatives, highlighting the recent US reform of its 'wayward' foreign assistance system.

Lewin underscored the importance of the G7 as a platform for US cooperation on humanitarian issues, development, and security. 

During the World Bank-IMF annual meetings on October 15, 2025, US Representative French Hill highlighted similar themes and stated that the US sought 'actual development' that stayed true to organizational mandates and produced results. He criticized perceived mission creep in multilateral institutions and stated that the US should maintain its shareholding in multilateral institutions to advance American interests and secure reforms. Hill also emphasized that 'America First' meant US leadership rather than isolation.

On September 25, 2025, the US administration issued a presidential memorandum to investigate and disrupt networks and organizations, including nonprofits, that the administration views as supporting political violence, coinciding with Department of Justice instructions to investigate George Soros's Open Society Foundations for potential racketeering charges.

The memorandum, titled Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence cited the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, attacks on federal officers, and over US$2 billion in property damage from riots as justification for the new measures. The strategy calls for Joint Terrorism Task Forces to investigate funders and employees of organizations aiding in such activities. The memorandum also instructed the US Treasury and the IRS to identify and disrupt financial networks and ensure that tax-exempt entities, many of which are registered as nonprofits, are not directly or indirectly financing political violence.

The Open Society Foundations, which has distributed more than US$23 billion worldwide, condemned the instructions to the Department of Justice as politically motivated attacks on civil society meant to silence free speech. Soros founded the origins of the organization in 1984 to support democracy, especially in communist and former communist countries. The foundation funds groups promoting human rights, democracy, and equity.

The National Council of Nonprofits echoed the Open Society Foundations' concerns, stating that there was no evidence linking nonprofit organizations and foundations to recent political violence. Nearly 200 philanthropic organization released a joint open letter condemning political violence and warning against using the tragedy for partisan gain.

On September 18, 2025, the US Department of State, under the leadership of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, released its America First Global Health Strategy, a comprehensive plan to align US global health programs with American national interests, security, and prosperity.

While the plan reaffirms commitment to goals for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB, the strategy marks a significant pivot from previous administrations, failing to mention previous administration and historically bipartisan priorities, including maternal and child health, routine immunizations, nutrition, and family planning. The document frames global health as a tool to counter Chinese influence, particularly in Africa.

The strategy is built on three pillars:

• "Making America safer" by improving disease surveillance and outbreak response;
• "Making America stronger" by shifting to bilateral agreements with partner countries; and
• "Making America more prosperous" by protecting the US economy from pandemics and promoting American health products.

The plan outlines a move away from NGO-led program delivery toward direct, multi-year bilateral agreements with recipient governments. The agreements will require co-investment from partner countries and will be tied to performance benchmarks. The US administration aims to finalize the deals with the 87 countries that received US health funding in FY2023 by the end of 2025, which is a timeline seen as highly challenging by global health experts, particularly in light of severe cuts to government global health staff.

The strategy justifies the shift by targeting “inefficient and wasteful” spending, asserting that 60% of current funding goes to overhead and program management rather than frontline services.

Critics raised concerns that the new model poses significant challenges, highlighting that a purely bilateral approach is seen as insufficient to tackle transnational threats, which require the broad, multilateral cooperation offered by institutions like the WHO. Another point of concern highlighted by health experts is the reduced funding for program management and technical assistance, which could weaken the detailed data collection and reporting that have historically allowed for close congressional oversight.

On September 15, 2025, a UN Women report revealed that progress on women's rights is stagnating and regressing due to conflict, aid cuts, and a backlash against gender equality, and called on governments at the UN General Assembly in New York to commit to renewed action, highlighting that the US$420 billion needed annually to advance gender equality is a fraction of the US$2.7 trillion spent on the military.

The report, a gender snapshot monitoring progress on the SDGs, found that 676 million women and girls lived near deadly conflict in 2024, the highest number since the 1990s. Women are also more likely to be affected by rising food insecurity. The report projects that climate change could push an additional 158.3 million women and girls into extreme poverty by 2050.

Director of UN Women’s policy division, Sarah Hendriks, contrasted the US$2.7 trillion in annual military spending with the estimated US$420 billion needed to advance gender equality. The report also noted a digital gender divide, which if addressed, could lift 30 million women and girls out of poverty by 2050 and generate a US$1.5 trillion increase in global GDP by 2030. UN Women is calling for renewed commitments at the UN General Assembly, 30 years after the Beijing Declaration.

On September 11^th, 2025, the US State Department announced US$250 million in new public health assistance to the Philippines.

The new funding is intended to address public health challenges, with a focus on tuberculosis and maternal health. The assistance will also support investment in preparedness, detection, and response capabilities to reduce the threat of emerging diseases.

The programming builds on US$63 million in assistance announced during Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s official visit to Washington in July 2025. The US administration highlighted the announcement as a demonstration of its 'America First' foreign assistance approach.

On September 11, 2025, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced two major pieces of legislation: the DFC Modernization Act of 2025, which proposes to increase the US DFC's lending cap to US$250 billion, and a series of bills aimed at reforming the US State Department.

The DFC Modernization Act, which closely resembles a proposal from the Trump administration, would increase the DFC's total lending cap from US$60 billion to US$250 billion. The bill would also allow the agency to invest in HICs for the first time, establish a revolving fund for equity investments, and raise the threshold for congressional notification of investments from US$10 million to US$100 million.

The second set of bills seeks to reform the US State Department by codifying changes made under US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The proposals include the creation of an undersecretary for foreign assistance and a 'global health compact' model designed to shift funding responsibilities to partner countries, which would include a phase-out of PEPFAR funding. The legislation also suggests tying foreign assistance to a country's alignment with US policy positions.

Former OPIC CEO Robert Mosbacher Jr. expressed concern about linking the DFC bill to the more contentious State Department authorization. A short-term extension for the DFC may be necessary to allow more time for negotiation.

On September 4, 2025, the US Department of State announced a plan to provide the HIV-prevention drug lenacapavir to two million people by 2028, a commitment delivered through the PEPFAR and the Global Fund.

The developer of the drug, Gilead Sciences, stated it would offer the drug at no profit for the initiative. The plan follows a similar commitment made in December 2024, which had been put in doubt by funding cuts to the USAID in early 2025. As a key implementing agency for PEPFAR, USAID is on the front lines of the global HIV/AIDS response, working to deliver prevention, treatment, and care services. The funding cuts in early 2025 created significant uncertainty about the US government's ability to follow through on its global health commitments.

The announcement received mixed reactions. Health advocates criticized the target of two million people as too low to have a significant epidemiological impact compared to the estimated 40 million people in need of PrEP in SSA. Experts also raised concerns about implementation, questioning which populations would be prioritized, how logistical challenges like cold-chain and training would be addressed, and what the "at-cost" price from Gilead would be.

On August 29, 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced White House Budget Director Russell Vought will oversee the closure of USAID, which officially ceased its main operations on July 1, 2025.

Rubio stated on social media that USAID is now officially in a close-out mode, with a small set of core programs moved to the State Department. Vought previously led efforts to halt funding not aligned with US President Donald Trump's agenda.

Earlier in the year, Elon Musk and DOGE targeted USAID, alleging widespread fraud and misuse of funds, which Rubio claimed saved US taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. Supporters of the former agency argued that it served a critical function by providing food and medical assistance, investing in education and economic programs to stabilize countries, reduce migration, and combat terrorist influence.

On August 29, 2025, the White House announced its intention to cancel US$4.9 billion in foreign assistance funding, a move that drew criticism from both Republican and Democratic members of Congress.

The administration plans to use a so-called pocket rescission to cancel the funds, which were previously approved by Congress. The maneuver involves the executive branch requesting to cancel funds so late in the fiscal year, which ends on September 30, 2025, that the money expires before Congress has the required time to formally reject the cut.

The clawback includes:

• US$3.2 billion in USAID development assistance;
• US$521 million in State Department contributions to international organizations;
• US$445 million in separately budgeted peacekeeping funding;
• US$393 million in State Department contributions to peacekeeping activities; and
• US$322 million from the USAID-State Department Democracy Fund.

The move was condemned by members of Congress from both parties. Secretary of State Marco Rubio supported the recission, stating the targeted programs were not in the US' interest, and highlighted cuts of US$2.7 million for “inclusive democracy” programs in South Africa and US$4 million for “global LGBTQI+ awareness.” OMB Director Russell T. Vought defended the move as a lawful tool, citing similar actions by past presidents.

The GAO previously ruled during the first Trump administration that such rescissions are illegal, but the issue has not been explicitly decided by courts. The dispute could complicate negotiations for a government funding package for the following fiscal year. An extended legal battle over the rescission is expected to follow.