Daniel Russel and Blake Berger joined the China Global South Podcast to discuss Development as Strategy, their ambitious project to bring U.S. and Chinese stakeholders together to speak in a safe, controlled setting about their respective countries’ aid strategies in the Global South.

This was a big undertaking given how few direct contacts there are today between U.S. and Chinese stakeholders, particularly on a topic like international aid and development that is largely overlooked in the broader Sino-U.S. relationship.

But just as they were about to release their final report, Donald Trump upended their project with the decision to effectively halt all U.S. foreign aid. 

Russel and Berger spoke to the CGSP hosts Eric Olander and Cobus Van Staven about what they learned and how U.S. and Chinese international development assistance are poised to change in the Trump era.

Listen to their conversation here.