Reporting on China's move to provide global aid as U.S. pulls out

Summary

Consider This from NPR

Episode Title: Reporting on China's Move to Provide Global Aid as U.S. Pulls Out
Date: April 4, 2026
Host: Rob Schmitz
Guest: Fatma Tanis, NPR Global Health & Development Correspondent

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the global implications of the United States pulling back billions in foreign aid—especially as China moves to fill the gap. NPR’s Fatma Tanis shares on-the-ground reporting from Uganda, examining how local communities are grappling with the shift in aid and the ways China is adapting its own approach to foreign assistance. The discussion also delves into the complex reputations both the U.S. and China have built through their differing aid strategies, and how these shifts affect local economies and perceptions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Legacy and Impact of U.S. Foreign Aid

• Historical Influence: For decades, the U.S. established its global influence through substantial aid to health, development, and infrastructure programs.
• Local Perceptions: In Uganda, remnants of U.S. presence remain highly visible: posters, murals, and COVID-19 guidelines bearing the American flag speak to the longstanding influence of U.S. aid.
• Identity and Presence: Foreign aid has served not only practical functions but also shaped identity and perceptions of power.
  • Quote (Fatma Tanis, 01:31): "He said, well, he's the provider Father Trump."
  • The reference to Donald Trump as “Father Trump” by a Ugandan elder encapsulates both the reverence and confusion over the U.S. as aid provider.

China’s Expanding Role and Evolving Approach

• Current Presence: In Uganda, major visible projects like shopping malls and roads are now “Chinese built.” Infrastructure is where China’s aid has been most apparent.
  • Quote (Fatma Tanis, 03:36): "Shopping malls are Chinese built. The roads that you’re taking to go everywhere are Chinese built."
• Infrastructure-First Strategy: Initially, China invested heavily in large construction projects—ports, roads—and technology. These were often seen as self-serving, designed for China’s benefit as much as the recipient’s.
  • Quote (Rob Schmitz, 05:47): “A lot of it was built partly to help that country, but also to take resources from that country and then quickly export them to China.”
• Quality Concerns: These projects have sometimes suffered from lack of upkeep, diminishing their local impact.
  • Quote (Fatma Tanis, 04:28): “…there were a lot of places where they had been pretty messed up and nobody was fixing it. So at one point that road was beautiful and paved, but now... potholes everywhere."
• A Shift Toward “Small and Beautiful” Projects: Responding to criticism, China is now funding smaller, community-level initiatives aimed at “winning hearts and minds.” Examples include building bridges, refurbishing maternity wards, and providing medical supplies.
  • Quote (Fatma Tanis, 04:54): “They actually call them small and beautiful projects…”

Changing Models: U.S. Retreat, China’s Opportunity

• Bilateral Focus: The U.S. is pulling back from broad-based international aid, increasingly prioritizing targeted, country-to-country (bilateral) support.
• China’s Advantage: With the U.S. retreating, China’s efforts—even if modest—fill a critical void.
  • Quote (Fatma Tanis, 07:39): “…China’s biggest advantage perhaps is the fact that the U.S. is pulling away. And so right now, where the U.S. is not giving anything, China is, and that alone is a win for them.”
• Perceptions Still Forming: Despite China’s new approach, its influence is not yet seen as aspirational in the way U.S. aid used to be, largely because it lacks decades of built-up goodwill and symbolism.

Reporting Realities: How U.S. Aid Cuts Ripple Through Local Economies

• Unexpected Interconnections: Fatma recounts reporting in Uganda on a cash-assistance and coaching program unrelated to U.S. aid. Yet, the economic impact of U.S. aid withdrawal still shaped the story:
  • Local markets slowed down because money that previously entered the economy via U.S. programs dried up, reducing demand and opportunity even for those in entirely separate private programs.
  • Quote (Fatma Tanis, 09:59): “It turned out to be that the U.S. aid cuts had caused a serious slowdown in the local economy… It was also affecting these people in the program who are trying to build businesses. So, even a story that I was intentionally trying to do outside of the aid cuts ended up being dragged into it.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On U.S. Aid's Symbolic Role:
  • “I remember one community elder who kept referring to Donald Trump as Father Trump when he was talking about, you know, the aid cuts.” – Fatma Tanis (01:08)
  • “That phrase, equal parts reverence and bewilderment, captures something about how U.S. foreign aid has functioned for decades, not just as money, but as identity, as presence, as power.” – Rob Schmitz (01:31)
• On China’s Changing Image:
  • “I think the way that China did it was so obvious that...people viewed Chinese aid as suspicious, like, okay, you’re building us a port, but what are you going to get from us?” – Fatma Tanis (06:30)
  • “China is moving toward a more subtle form of aid, but I think it’s still very much eyeing the positive returns that it’s going to get.” – Fatma Tanis (06:50)

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:01 | Fatma Tanis describes the perception of U.S. aid and the “Father Trump” remark | | 03:36 | Explaining the physical remnants of U.S. and the current predominance of Chinese-built infrastructure in Uganda | | 04:54 | Introduction to China’s new “small and beautiful projects” approach to foreign aid | | 05:47 | Rob Schmitz contextualizes China’s self-interest in previous infrastructure projects | | 08:44 | Fatma discusses the ripple effects of U.S. aid cuts on a non-U.S.-funded economic empowerment program and how local economies intertwine with aid flows | | 10:47 | Episode wraps with Fatma's closing remarks and acknowledgments |

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Overall Tone

The conversation is analytical but empathetic, with Fatma Tanis providing candid reflections from her fieldwork in Uganda. The tone balances critical insight with care for the communities affected by aid decisions, highlighting the complexities and real-world consequences of shifting global strategies.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode reveals how the retreat of U.S. international aid is not just a matter of politics, but has on-the-ground consequences for communities—and opens an opportunity for China to reshape its own reputation and influence through a shift in its aid philosophy. However, the impacts are complicated and often ripple through local economies in unexpected ways, showing how interconnected these global dynamics remain.

Transcript

[A]

Hey, it's Rob. Before we get to today's episode, we wanted to ask you to do us a favor. We want to know what you think about. Consider this what interests you, what you like and what you don't like, what keeps you listening. That's why we're hoping you'll take a couple of minutes to fill out the NPR News podcast listener survey. You can find it at npr.org springsurvey and please do not be shy. We want to hear from everyone, even our new listeners and those who might not have taken one of our surveys before. Yes, that means you. Okay, onto today's episode. This past year, NPR global health and development correspondent Fatma Tanis has been digging into the global impact of billions of dollars of USAID being cut from programs around the world. A lot of the headlines in the US Focused on Washington, the chaos, the ideology, the politics. So Fatma went to Uganda last September to find out what it looked like on the ground. And what she found was something unexpected. Not anger, but something harder to explain.

[B]

I really got this sense of how, how the US Is just viewed as this, like, major superpower. I remember one community elder who kept referring to Donald Trump as Father Trump when he was talking about, you know, the aid cuts.

[A]

Fatima was struck by the description.

[B]

And I asked him, why do you, why are you calling him father? And he said, well, he's the provider Father Trump.

[A]

That phrase, equal parts reverence and bewilderment, captures something about how US Foreign aid has functioned for decades, not just as money, but as identity, as presence, as power. Consider this. The United States spent decades building influence abroad through foreign aid. Now that it's pulling back, other powers are lining up to fill the Void. From NPR, I'm Rob Schmitz.

[C]

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[A]

It's Consider this from n the US spent decades and billions of dollars building global influence, funding clinics, coaching programs, disease prevention. Now that that money is gone, NPR global health and development correspondent Fatma Tanis went to Uganda to see what's left and who the new players are that are moving in.

[B]

In Uganda, you still see the remnants of USAID everywhere you go, posters and murals with, you know, the American flag, guidelines about how to deal with the COVID 19 pandemic. You kind of see that everywhere on the ground. And then on the other hand, in the big cities, the shopping malls are Chinese built. The roads that you're taking to go everywhere are Chinese built. The GPS in the cars that people are driving are Chinese gps. And people are definitely sort of aware of what's coming from where. And the Chinese sort of strategy of aid has long been focused on infrastructure, these big, big infrastructure projects. But they have also run into some issues with that, issues of quality. When we were driving on those roads, there were a lot of places where they had been pretty messed up and nobody was fixing it. So at one point that road was beautiful and paved, but now when you're driving on it, it's like potholes everywhere. But China is changing its approach, and that's something that I've been looking into because of a lot of the criticism around the way that it does. Its aid has been hampering its reputation. And so they've been taking an approach that's slightly more similar to what the US had been doing, which is to fund these small projects here and there to win hearts and minds. They actually call them small and beautiful projects, which go from any. Like there are various different building a bridge in an island or refurbishing maternal ward in Zimbabwe, helping medical supplies get into a Latin American country. And so at a moment when the US Is moving away from its model of aid and moving more toward a bilateral version, you see China moving the other way. And that's something that's really interesting to watch.

[A]

Yeah, that's interesting because I used to cover China and back when I was covering China, China would focus its aid on, like you said, infrastructure like roads, public transportation, and especially ports. And a lot of it was built partly to help that country, but also to take resources from that country and then quickly export them to China. So it was in many ways self serving. You Know what you're saying right now is that they're actually shifting to other types of aid, basically to help that country develop in its health care and also for education, things like that. But that is an interesting change for a superpower like China.

[B]

Absolutely. And I think there's something interesting there because the way that governments like the US and China do aid, I mean, there's always an element of it being self serving. But I think the way that China did it was so obvious that people viewed in many places like Kenya and others, they viewed Chinese aid as suspicious, like, okay, you're building a support, but what are you going to get from us? That kind of transactionality was so, so obvious in a way that it wasn't with U.S. aid. And I think now China is moving toward a more subtle, subtle form of aid, but I think it's still very much eyeing the positive returns that it's going to get. Because when China gives something to, you know, when China builds a bridge in an island, there's still positive gains for China. People will view it positively and that's still a gain.

[A]

I mean, do, do the folks that you're speaking to, for example in Uganda and in other African countries, are they starting to see China in an aspirational way like they saw the US as an aspirational country?

[B]

I don't think that the China's new model has. I think it's still new in that sense. I think it hasn't had that like the decades of influence that US aid has. But I think certainly China's biggest advantage perhaps is the fact that the US is pulling away. And so right now, where the US is not giving anything, China is, and that alone is a win for them.

[A]

So fama, I wanted to get also into how you report when you're on the ground. There's this thing that happens in reporting where you go out to cover one story, especially in developing countries. This happens a lot, especially to me, and you end up noticing something completely different and then you're kind of pulled in a different direction. How often does that happen to you and did that happen to you while you're working on these stories? You know, when you're covering aid from China and things like that?

[B]

Yeah, it certainly does. And I do, you know, when I'm planning my reporting, that's something I definitely build in space for both, you know, logistically, but also mentally. Most recently, when I was in Uganda, there was one story I was working on. You know, obviously we were covering the USAID shutdown and its impacts and like the change in foreign aid policy. However, I also wanted to do stories that had nothing to do with that. And so there was this one program in a rural part of Uganda that I was profiling. It was a program meant to, you know, push people who are living in extreme poverty out by giving them some cash and coaching. It's a program that's, you know, has been it has had high rates of success elsewhere. And this one was doing something interesting. It was not funded or supported in any way by the US it was funded privately. And so, you know, we're out there in the field, we're talking to participants of these programs, trying to understand how their lives are changing with the help of this cash and the coaching. And we realized that there had been something that was stopping people from being able to invest as much as they could have or they had been encouraged to in building their businesses. And it turned out to be that the US Aid cuts had caused a serious slowdown in the local economy because people who weren't in the program, people in the area who had been receiving aid, had no longer had the resources to spend money in the markets. And that was affecting local businesses. It was also affecting these people in the program who are trying to build businesses. So even a story that I had, I was intentionally trying to do outside of the aid cuts ended up being dragged into it.

[A]

Fama Tennis is a global health and development correspondent for npr. Fama, thanks so much.

[B]

Thank you for having me.

[A]

And before we go, just one more reminder to take a couple of minutes to fill out the NPR News podcast Listener Survey. You can find it at npr.org springsurvey There's a short list of questions. It's anonymous, and it would really help to hear from you, even if you've done one of these in the past. NPR.org SpringSurvey that link is in our episode Notes and thanks. This episode was produced by Lena Muhammad. It was edited by Giselle Grayson and Adam Rainey. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigun. It's consider this from npr. I'm Rob Schmitz.

[D]

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