President Trump has signed a New Executive Order to Rebrand US Foreign Assistance

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US President Donald Trump has signed a new executive order. It requires all US foreign assistance to be ‘rebranded’ to ensure recipients know that American taxpayers have paid for it. On Thursday, Trump directed the 22 US Federal agencies that distribute US aid abroad to use a common logo on their packaging. Point to be noted that different agencies from the United States Agency for International Development to the Department of Agriculture are currently using different logos on items. These items range from sacks of grain to medical supplies, tents, and water purification kits. The US officials have stressed that it created confusion in some countries. They said the aid from other nations like China, is readily identifiable with standardized logos.

The White House also issued a statement and said, “To foster goodwill between the recipients of United States foreign assistance and the American people, and to encourage the governments of nations that are receiving foreign assistance to support the United States. It is essential that recipients of United States foreign assistance be aware of the manifold efforts of American taxpayers to aid them and improve their lives”. The statement added, “To further this awareness and to ensure United States foreign assistance supports the foreign policy objectives of the United States and maintains American influence and leadership, such assistance must appropriately and conspicuously be identified as American aid”.

It is noteworthy that the executive order allows the president 30 days to choose a logo and then provides for a 120-day period for that choice to be implemented. There are various kinds of concerns that such an order could allow Trump in his final weeks in office to affix his own name to international assistance, but officials downplayed those concerns. They pointed out that a final decision on the new logo would ultimately fall to the next administration. A senior US official briefed on the decision said he expected that Trump’s choice for a logo would be an American flag but couldn’t point to other options.