We Need USAID To Compete With China | Opinion

Last week, thousands of employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) dutifully showed up to work only to be told they could not enter. Then followed my colleagues, members of Congress—all systematically turned away. One by one, each realized just how real billionaire Elon Musk's plan to blow up USAID was—he wants it obliterated, and he allegedly has President Donald Trump's blessing. No matter what Trump or Musk says, shutting down USAID isn't "tough" policy. It's fundamentally weak because it cedes leadership to our foremost adversary—the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Since 1961, USAID has contributed to global stability and created good paying jobs across the United States. Yet the Trump administration's plan to shut it down not only jeopardizes those valuable dividends but severely kneecaps us in the pacing challenge that is China. To compete with China, we need USAID.

First, USAID is our ground game against the expansive Belt and Road Initiative—Beijing's "deal of the century" that leaves countries in debt with low-quality results. For less than 0.7 percent of the budget, USAID provides needed alternatives to Chinese lending, contributing exponentially to development and national security. Its projects pushed Huawei spyware out of Liberia, protected Pacific Island nations from compromised Chinese undersea telecoms cables, and supported Western consortiums along the Lobito Corridor to win contracts on critical minerals over Chinese state-owned enterprises. Where the State Department doesn't have personnel in small, rural areas, USAID is there—providing support, competing with China, and ensuring partnerships around the world.

The vacuum created by a sudden shutdown of USAID would immediately be filled by the likes of the CCP. Already, the administration's unconscionable freeze on USAID foreign assistance is jeopardizing ongoing technical assistance to Paraguay to not pick compromised Huawei for its 5G network. In the absence of USAID's myriad of projects, Chinese malign influence, shoddy, opaque deals flourish, and America's reputation is dinged as we turn our back on friends and make the CCP a more attractive, consistent partner.

You only have to look at world autocrats' praise of Trump's attack on USAID to see how dangerous shutting it down is by ceding global leadership and soft power to our adversaries. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on X, "Smart move by @elonmusk, trying to plug USAID's Deep Throat." And Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele falsely claimed that cutting USAID is "a big win for the rest of the world." When autocrats praise USAID's downfall, you know how vital its work is.

In fact, USAID's role in countering the CCP was so important that our Committee, the House Select Committee on the CCP, recommended in a unanimous, bipartisan way to "fully fund" USAID.

Second, USAID is not only critical to competing with China abroad; it's essential to boost our own economy here at home. Often overlooked, USAID contributes directly to the U.S. economy through contracts, procurements, and grants to domestic partners. In fact, USAID has funded at least $200 million in projects to date in my home state of Illinois. USAID even advises governments around the world to choose U.S. businesses over Chinese state-owned enterprises, boosting our companies' global reach and revenue. These projects create jobs and boost our economy, allowing us to run faster in the strategic competition.

And third, let's be clear—preventing death and destruction abroad saves American lives at home. It prevents us from sending our troops into harm's way, it muzzles violent extremism and terrorism, and its return on investment is immeasurable to the American people. Upholding global stability—and preventing it from falling into the CCP's hands—is American. What isn't American are unconstitutional attacks on crucial countering CCP efforts by unelected officials like Musk.

At a time when the CCP is aggressively investing abroad, rerouting supply chains, and buying authoritarian favor, the United States must double down on USAID's work, not stifle it. The CCP and connected entities have spent almost $1 trillion on development projects over the past two decades, dwarfing official U.S. government figures. USAID is only a drop in the bucket of competing with China's global ambitions. And we need every drop.

The challenge is immense. We can't afford to put our star hitter on the bench.

Raja Krishnamoorthi serves as ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.