A year after Washington froze and then slashed foreign aid, development workers in the Philippines and across the region say the damage is still being felt, with job losses and abandoned projects continuing to threaten some of Asia’s most vulnerable groups.

“On a personal level, it was the loss of income. But we lost a lot of critical projects in the country,” said Sharon*, a former country representative for a US-based organisation overseeing development work in the Philippines.

For Sharon’s team, the cutback affected support for democracy and human rights defenders, environmental campaigners and journalists.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID), the main American body dispensing foreign aid, also became the target of a coordinated online campaign built on “half-truths”, according to a recent cross-border investigation by Asian media organisations.

Their reporting found that publicly available funding records had been recast as evidence that USAID was an instrument of US economic warfare, media control and political interference.

Last year, US President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders freezing foreign aid from USAID and the State Department without seeking congressional approval. His administration said the move was to cut waste.

In February 2025, the US State Department announced it was eliminating more than 90 per cent of USAID contracts and US$60 billion in support worldwide.