Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands—basically the cool kids of Europe—handed over a fat stack of cash, $15 million to be exact, to the U.S. for some feel-good projects to help farmers in low-income countries grow food without torching the planet.
They teamed up with USAID on this snazzy thing called WE4F—Water and Energy for Food—like a superhero initiative for sustainable farming.
But then, bam! The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s squad of budget-slashing ninjas swooped in, froze USAID’s funds faster than you can say “Twitter rant,” and now that money’s just chilling in some dusty account, unspent and unrefunded.
These European buddies are like, “Uh, hello? Can we get an update? Our farmer pals are kinda screwed here!”
Sweden’s throwing up its hands, saying they’ve got $12 million—$5.1 million of it for WE4F—stuck in limbo, while Norway’s like, “What’s up with our $1.4 million?” and the Dutch are tapping their foot, waiting on $1.6 million.
They’re all emailing USAID like desperate exes, but crickets—no reply.
Sweden’s Julia Lindholm is over here dropping truth bombs, saying this mess is leaving 6 million vulnerable farmers high and dry, which is about as funny as a punch to the face.
Meanwhile, Trump and Musk are out here calling USAID a scam—like it’s some shady pyramid scheme—and they’re all about redirecting the cash to flex on China and juice up U.S. trade.
The Euros are so fed up they’re threatening to spill the tea to the press, and honestly, who can blame them?
The U.S. is looking like that friend who borrows 20 bucks and then ghosts you. Oh, and get this—courts had to step in to force the admin to cough up $2 billion USAID already owed, but with most of the staff either fired or on forced vacay, good luck sorting out this financial dumpster fire.
So now, these allies are side-eyeing the U.S. like, “Are you even reliable anymore?”
Between Trump ditching NATO vibes, cozying up to Russia’s Ukraine takes, and slapping tariffs on everyone, it’s a full-on trust crisis. Even big shots like ex-Defense Secretaries and CIA dudes are saying this contract-cancelling spree—83% of USAID’s deals, poof!—is tanking America’s rep as a dependable partner.
Banks are even noping out of financing USAID gigs because it’s chaos central. Sweden’s already plotting a Plan B to keep WE4F alive without Uncle Sam.
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