THE STRATEGIC REALIGNMENT OF US FOREIGN AID UNDER TRUMP’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION: IMPACTS ON GLOBAL GOVERNANCE, DIPLOMACY, AND POWER PROJECTION

Abstract
This study examines the strategic realignment of U.S. foreign aid under President Trump’s second administration and its consequences. The research problem centers on whether an executive-driven shift toward narrowly defined national-interest objectives produces measurable strategic returns or instead undermines the institutional and normative foundations of American influence. The study’s objectives are to assess impacts on multilateral governance, diplomacy, and power projection. The analysis is anchored in realist international-relations theory, which frames aid as an instrument of state power used to secure relative advantage. Methodologically, the study employed a convergent mixed-methods design combining 48 purposively sampled key-informant interviews across policy, implementing, multilateral, recipient-country, and private-sector actors, together with desk research of publicly available secondary materials. Findings indicate pronounced effects across three domains. First, global governance institutions experienced financing gaps, erosion of U.S. coalition leadership, and operational fragmentation. Second, diplomacy was marked by increased transactionalism, allied hedging, and opportunistic advances by rival donors. Third, aid was repurposed toward security and geoeconomic ends, yielding short-term tactical gains but weakening the soft power and embedded institutional presence that sustain long-term influence. The study concludes that, while the realignment aligns with realist incentives for immediate relative gains, it incurs systemic costs to coalition cohesion and normative authority. Policy implications call for protecting multilateral and humanitarian baselines while pursuing targeted strategic investments to reconcile short-term objectives with durable influence.

Keywords
Foreign Aid, Power, Realignment, Diplomacy, Governance.

Cite this paper
Ibrahim Suleiman Roba, Maxwell Muthini Kyalo, THE STRATEGIC REALIGNMENT OF US FOREIGN AID UNDER TRUMP’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION: IMPACTS ON GLOBAL GOVERNANCE, DIPLOMACY, AND POWER PROJECTION , SCIREA Journal of Economics. Volume 10, Issue 2, April 2025 | PP. 69-85. 10.54647/economics790511

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