Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee and his spouse contended that the US should not be the only country providing aid.
As US President Donald Trump cut almost all of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) contracts, Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee declared that it was time for Europe to take the initiative and “lead the world.” Trump is correct, according to Banerjee, when he claims that Europe has “surrendered its leadership in the world.”
In a Saturday interview with NDTV World, Banerjee discussed a recent essay in The Financial Times in which he and fellow Nobel laureate and wife Esther Duflo made the case that the US should not be the only country providing help.
“The rest of the world should take the lead, demonstrating its ability to raise and effectively spend aid money,” they stated in the piece.
Banerjee was asked where he plans to get this money during the most recent interview. “It’s a great moment for Europe to step up to the plate,” he said.
#NDTVWorldExclusive | @allister_dc speaks to Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on USAID cuts including his own research lab and the opportunity for Europe to step up in the global stage. #WashingtonWatch pic.twitter.com/8wwaDUUHcE
— NDTV WORLD (@NDTVWORLD) April 12, 2025
Banerjee, however, said he believes, “President Trump is right in saying Europe has sort of, in some ways, surrendered its leadership in the world.”
I believe this is the time to take the globe by storm.Even if Europe’s GDP is larger than the US’, the aid contribution is still insignificant.
According to Abhijit Banerjee, “this is a way to get leadership if they [Europe] really want it.”
USAID reduces
The USAID cuts also impacted Abhijit Banerjee’s worldwide research center, which aims to combat poverty.
Trump stated that he wants foreign spending to closely match his “America First” stance. Banerjee responded to the question, “What do you have to say to those who believe that America needs to take care of its own first before helping the rest of the world, be it for, say, transgender clinics in China or, say, disaster relief elsewhere?”
The assertion that “most of the money was going to transgender clinics in China” was deemed “ludicrous” by him in response.
The majority of the funds, in my opinion, were being used for causes that the majority of Americans support, such as saving lives. PEPFAR is a Republican program. Americans are in favor of saving lives. Americans are in favor of helping the needy. According to Abhijit Banerjee, Americans are in favor of saving lives during emergencies.
