What cutting USAID could cost the U.S. — and how China, Russia may benefit

The Trump administration’s moves to dismantle the U.S. agency that helps to fight starvation and poverty overseas has stoked fears that America will lose its standing on the world stage as rival powers rush to fill the void.

Concerns are growing in Washington that temporarily halting assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development “opens up a window for China and Russia,” George Ingram, a former senior USAID official, told NBC News in a telephone interview Thursday. 

He was one of several experts to caution that the decision would lead to American influence waning in Africa, South America and Asia where it addresses a range of needs from health care to clean water, distributing aid to nongovernmental organizations, aid agencies and nonprofits. USAID has also provided millions of dollars in military aid to Israel and Ukraine.

“Nobody anticipated” that Trump would suspend most foreign aid “and then decapitate USAID of its personnel,” said Ingram, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.

But on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order halting foreign aid funding for at least 90 days so his administration could review the program’s compatibility with his “America First” policy.  

Since then, hundreds of USAID employees and contractors have been fired or furloughed and most foreign assistance has come to a standstill; as of Monday, USAID’s website no longer loads on the web, resulting in a message that its server IP address cannot be found.

Earlier Monday, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, dubbed a “special government employee” by the White House, said that the plan was to shut USAID down.  “You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair,” he said. “We’re shutting it down.”

The billionaire appointed by Trump to run the Department of Government Efficiency, said that he had spoken in detail about USAID with the president, who “agreed we should shut it down.”

“I actually checked with him a few times [and] said, ‘Are you sure?’” Trump responded, “Yes,” Musk added.

Asked Monday about whether it would take an act of Congress to abolish USAID, Trump said: “I don’t know, I don’t think so … we just want to do the right thing.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said Monday that he was…