However the dismemberment of USAID plays out (maybe some aspect will be absorbed into the State Dept?) & whatever one thinks of the conduct of the agency, the withdrawal from its activities will likely leave a vacuum that China will see to fill with its own development agency (colloquially ChinaAID).

He may not care, but if you wanted an example of how to dissipate 'soft power' quickly, this looks like a textbook case.

#USAID #InternationalRelations #SoftPower

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/07/donald-trump-usaid-shutdown-impact-china-relationship-funding