When President Trump froze foreign assistance, he argued the drastic step was needed to eliminate waste and block what he derides as “woke” spending. Experts say the suspension has another, far more serious consequence: emboldening authoritarian strongmen.

Food distribution is being stopped. Health services are being shut down. Lifesaving aid is being tied up, with no way to disburse it. These aren’t warnings of what’s to come, but examples of what aid workers say is the fallout of the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid and the gutting of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

While U.S. taxpayers have long spent just a few bucks each on foreign aid every year, the impact is profound, saving millions of people from hunger, averting the worst of natural disasters such as droughts and flooding, tackling life-threatening diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, and more.