- USAID budget reductions under Trump halted dioxin cleanup at Bien Hoa Air Base, risking health for thousands.
- Diplomatic gains with Vietnam, key to countering China, face collapse as war legacy projects stall.
- Over 8,600 Vietnamese battle Agent Orange-related illnesses amid stalled $430M, decade-long remediation effort.
The Trump administration’s drastic cuts to USAID have paralyzed one of the most consequential environmental projects in modern Southeast Asia. At Bien Hoa Air Base—a hotspot containing four times more dioxin contamination than the successfully remediated Da Nang site—bulldozers sat idle for weeks as 650,000 cubic yards of toxic soil remained exposed. This abrupt halt jeopardizes not just public health but a carefully cultivated strategic partnership with Vietnam, now celebrating 30 years of normalized relations.
Experts warn the funding freeze could unravel decades of reconciliation work. When we abandoned cleanup mid-process, it validated every fear about American reliability,said Chuck Searcy, a veteran-turned-advocate. The stalled $200M annual war legacy programs include UXO removal (15% completed) and a museum exhibit meant to balance narratives of wartime trauma with U.S. accountability—a project now shelved indefinitely.
The geopolitical stakes mirror the environmental ones. As China accelerates South China Sea claims, Vietnam’s 2023 upgrade of U.S. relations to comprehensive strategic partnershipsignaled a seismic shift. Yet 43% of Vietnamese still distrust America, per 2023 Pew data. Each delayed bulldozer gives Beijing propaganda fuel,noted Nguyen Khac Giang of Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Technicians had treated 32 acres before the pause, but 87% of Bien Hoa’s contamination remains. Unlike Da Nang’s 6-year thermal treatment success, Bien Hoa requires bioremediation—a complex process now delayed just as Monsanto-linked chemical companies face renewed dioxin liability lawsuits. The U.S. Defense Department continues MIA recovery missions, but as Rieser noted, Prioritizing our dead over their living speaks volumes.
