Great Decisions participants support continued aid to Egypt
U.S. aid to Egypt has faced several significant hurdles in the past year, from now-ousted president Mohamed Morsi’s expansion of power to the July 3, 2013 coup d'état that saw the military once again regain control of the country.
Now, in the wake of continued violence against pro-Morsi supporters in Egypt, the Obama administration announced last month that it would cut a significant amount of U.S. military aid to Egypt.
The U.S. has provided Egypt with $71.6 billion in foreign aid between 1948 and 2011. Military aid, which currently runs at $1.3 billion per annum, has been a core part of the U.S. aid package since the 1979 Camp David peace treaty. In August, a partial hold was placed on U.S. economic aid—which runs at $250 million—to Cairo
However, seven out of ten National Opinion Ballot participants agreed that the U.S. should continue to provide both military and economic aid. Bilateral aid, participants noted, helps not only provide stability to a country in flux, but is also a way for the U.S. to influence events. As a result, 51 percent of participants believed aid should either be kept the same or increased; only 36 percent believed U.S. aid to Egypt should be decreased or cut.
But aid is not the only way for the U.S. to use economic statecraft to stabilize its interests in Egypt—free trade is another. To this end, participants showed an interest in establishing a bilateral Egypt-U.S. free trade agreement. Seventy percent of balloters support a free trade agreement with Egypt.
As one balloter from Jacksonville, Fla. put it, “The U.S. needs to help build Egypt’s economy from a social not military perspective.” Promoting trade might be the best way to do just that.
Foreign Policy Association interview podcast series.