Elon Musk drove fringe viewpoints on USAID into the mainstream on X, as the Trump administration halted the humanitarian relief agency’s work.

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.