The United States Agency for International Development is the world's largest foreign aid agency. Trump had already ordered a global freeze on most U.S. foreign aid as he moves to fulfill his campaign promise of "America First" policies.

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.