Trump administration calls on other nations to sign trade over aid declaration to promote America First values: report

The Trump administration is reportedly lobbying other nations to back a new “trade over aid” initiative, which would see them promoting “America First” values by investing in US companies – instead of splurging on overseas development projects.Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered diplomats Wednesday to start gauging support for the proposal before it’s put forward at the United Nations at the end of the month, the Washington Post reported.In a cable, he explained how the United Nations would be used to “promote America First values and create business opportunities for U.S.companies,” boasting that America has entered a “new Golden Age built on a booming economy fueled by pro-business policies: deregulation, lower taxes and a liberated energy industry.”“It was private business that developed all the world’s successful economies, not government aid.”A US diplomatic note, seen by Devex, shredded how richer nations have splurged billions of dollars on foreign aid projects.“For decades, government aid has been flowing from developed to developing countries with only limited impact,” it says.“It has not solved the world’s economic development challenges, and it has often created dependency, inefficiency, and corruption.”Weeks after President Trump was inaugurated for the second time, plans were unveiled to eliminate approximately $60 billion in foreign aid spending by cutting 92% of grants issued by the US Agency for International Development – before it was later absolved into the State Department.The audit identified nearly 15,000 grants and targeted almost 10,000 for elimination — the majority of which were issued by USAID – and first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.The US State Department vowed to address decades of so-called “institutional drift,” according to a memo seen by the outlet, and reform the way Washington delivers foreign assistance.“Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, must be justified ...