Breakingviews: Gates can fill only so much of humanitarian void

A nation populated by all those alive thanks to Bill Gates and his philanthropic organization would be the world’s 20th biggest, with 80 million residents. The Microsoft co-founder on Thursday vowed to redouble his efforts by giving away nearly all his substantial wealth over the next two decades. Despite the ambitious generosity, his money is having to stretch much further because of President Donald Trump’s unhumanitarian policies.

The Gates Foundation, established with his ex-wife Melinda who resigned as co-chairman last year, focuses on reducing child mortality, preventing deadly infectious diseases and lifting the world’s poorest out of poverty. For such bold initiatives, it has achieved plenty after deploying $100 billion over 25 years. It helped set up the Gavi vaccine alliance and the Global Fund, which distributes medicines for HIV, malaria and other diseases. They have saved millions of lives, and more money will inevitably help save even more.

As wealthy as Gates is, however, he is no match for U.S. government resources. Between 2008 and 2023, Uncle Sam spent between $53 billion and $77 billion a year, adjusted for inflation, providing disaster relief, alleviating suffering and battling pandemics, according to the Pew Research Center. Trump’s plan to dismantle USAID, the agency most responsible for such aid to foreign countries, would significantly reduce such assistance if the cuts survive various legal challenges.

The United States is the world’s single biggest aid donor, per the United Nations, funding that not only saves lives but builds goodwill around the globe and strengthens trade partners. Rich peers, including Britain and France, already have slashed their collective support budgets by about a third. In fact, of the 33 nations that pledged to give away 0.7% of their gross national income in development aid, few achieve the target. On average, they give about half as much, or $212 billion last year, research outfit One Data found.

It would be foolish to expect individuals such as Gates to fill the void. The 28 richest people alone are worth $2.9 trillion, according to UBS research. If they were to earn 8% and give away all those returns, an unlikely prospect, it would replace the missing government promises. And while Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and other billionaires have vowed to donate most of their wealth, the richest among them, Tesla boss Elon Musk, is who spearheaded Trump’s cost-cutting crusade. Gates deservedly called him out for it, but there’s plenty of shame to go around.