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After USAID is a series that explores the unintended, and not immediately visible, consequences of the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2025. As practitioners, researchers, and critics of international development, the series welcomes the unique perspectives anthropologists have to offer on how people and communities around the world are making sense of this momentous change.

The Trump administration’s controversial decision to abruptly cut 92% of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) funding was immediately met with criticism. News outlets from around the world shared reports describing the life-saving work of USAID’s humanitarian assistance programming. Losing this support would mean people trapped in conflict zones around the world might go without sufficient food, medicine, or water, likely resulting in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths.…