But Trump has shown no inclination to adhere to the separation of powers that gives a lead role to Congress. Instead, in his first two weeks back in the White House, he made clear he is determined to run the government based on executive decrees, not by proposing and passing conservative laws in Congress.

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.

The Trump administration extended a lockout of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees for a second day, accelerating efforts to dismantle the agency. The move follows Trumps foreign aid freeze on