patrick.net

President Trump cut foreign aid to China in half in just one year, according to an Office of Management and Budget report obtained exclusively by The Spectator.

The report, which provides a full accounting of US spending on China and is the first of its kind, revealed several key trends that are sure to thrill China hawks. Direct aid to China fell from $62 million in Fiscal Year 2019 to $30 million in Fiscal Year 2020, a decrease of 52 percent. Spending on strategic competition with China jumped from $42.4 billion to $47.5 billion, a 12 percent increase. The US also imposed $60 billion worth of duties on imported Chinese goods.

Multiple China support programs saw major reductions in spending or were ceased entirely under the Trump administration. For example, in 2019, the Export-Import Bank provided $11 million in financing guarantees for Chinese transactions. In 2020, it provided none. The US Trade and Development Agency ended its operations in China, cutting $2 million worth of investments in Chinese infrastructure projects. The US also ended its Peace Corps program in China for good following the pandemic.

At the same time, the US increased spending on programs it deemed to be effective in curbing China’s global ascendency. In 2020, Congress appropriated $300 million for the brand new Countering Chinese Influence Fund, which the OMB says is used for ‘cybersecurity, government transparency, foreign military financing, efforts to counter Chinese propaganda, and many other strategically important activities.’