David Lammy warns US that foreign aid cuts could be ‘strategic mistake’

US President Donald Trump’s cuts to foreign aid could be a “strategic mistake”, the foreign secretary has warned.

The Trump administration has presented a plan to dramatically cut staffing worldwide for US aid projects as part of its dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

David Lammy urged the US to “look closely at what went wrong” for the previous UK government when it closed down its Department for International Development (Dfid).

He said the UK had spent years “unravelling that strategic mistake” after Boris Johnson merged Dfid with the Foreign Office in 2020.

“What I can say to American friends is it’s widely accepted that the decision by the UK with very little preparation to close down Dfid, to suspend funding in the short term or give many global partners little heads up, was a big strategic mistake,” he told The Guardian.

“We have spent years unravelling that strategic mistake. Development remains a very important soft power tool. And in the absence of development… I would be very worried that China and others step into that gap.

“We were hugely critical of the way that the last government handled the decision. So I would caution US friends to look closely at what went wrong in the United Kingdom as they navigate this decision.”

The Trump administration’s plans would see thousands of workers lose their jobs, with fewer than 300 positions left in USAID to administer humanitarian aid programmes around the world.

On Thursday night, federal worker associations filed a lawsuit asking the courts to stop the shutdown, arguing that Trump lacks the authority to shut down an agency enshrined in congressional legislation.

Trump is also facing a backlash after he issued sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The White House issued an executive order on Thursday in response to what it described as “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.

The move has triggered condemnation from the ICC, who has said it “stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world”.

Neither the US nor Israel are a member of the ICC, whereas the UK is.

Asked if the Prime Minister was opposed to Trump’s view, a Number 10 spokesman said on Friday: “Ultimately, that’s a matter for the US.

“As for the UK, we support the independence of the ICC.

“Therefore, we’ve got no plans to sanction individual court officials.”

The spokesman later added that the “UK and the US, over a number of administrations, have taken a different view on the ICC” and pointed to the fact that the UK is a signatory to the Rome statute, which established the ICC, whereas the US is not.

On Thursday Trump signed an order to impose sanctions, after The Hague’s investigations into Israel during the war with Hamas.

The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in relation to the conflict in Gaza.

The Associated Press reported that the order signed by Trump accuses the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and of abusing its power by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Mr Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

“The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel,” the order says, adding that the court had set a “dangerous precedent” with its actions against both countries.

The order says the US will impose “tangible and significant consequences” on those responsible for the ICC’s “transgressions”.

The ICC called on “our 125 States Parties, civil society and all nations of the world to stand united for justice and fundamental human rights”, in its statement condemning the move.

It is the second time the US president has targeted the court.

During his first term of office he imposed sanctions on former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her deputies, over an investigation into crimes allegedly committed in Afghanistan.