One China expert told Newsweek that the USAID funding freeze had handed an "enormous gift" to Beijing's push to influence the Global South. Meanwhile, one Kremlin propagandist has said on Russian television that Moscow could exploit the gap left by USAID and project geopolitical power with a similar program.

China hits back with its own tariffs; Trump pauses tariffs on Mexico and Canada. China announced retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. goods immediately af