Dem report: China to seize global advantage from Trump international spending cuts

China will seize influence on the global stage as a result of the Trump administration’s major cuts to international spending, according to a report published Monday by the Democratic staff on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), the panel’s top Democrat, commissioned the report as a wake-up call to her colleagues over the damage she says will be wrought by President Trump’s policies six months into his term.

The report comes as the Senate is considering a Trump administration rescissions package that would cut hundreds of billions in foreign funding. It also comes as Congress moves toward appropriations season; the House Appropriations Committee on Monday proposed a 22 percent funding cut for national security, Department of State, and related programs.

“I can't imagine that anybody who has a thoughtful strategy for how to address what's happening in the world would have done the kinds of actions this administration has done,” Shaheen said in a call Monday previewing the report. 

The report is based on open-source research, official staff travel, meetings with the Trump administration, foreign government officials, U.S. companies and international nongovernmental organizations. 

“In private, our allies tell us that Chinese officials are gleeful, characterizing the United States as unreliable,” Shaheen wrote in the opening letter of the report.

“In some cases, China is filling the void we have left behind, buying up now-vacant radio frequencies to broadcast its propaganda to millions. But in many cases, Beijing is doubling down on its own long-term investments — in overseas infrastructure, critical minerals exploitation and exchange programs that bring foreign talent to Chinese universities — all while America withdraws.”

The 91-page report covers cuts to foreign aid, economic assistance, democracy initiatives, free media and law enforcement.

One case study includes U.S. budget cuts toward Africa and how they will impact efforts to develop the continent’s exports of critical minerals.

Trump has put a spotlight on Africa in the first six months of his term, brokering a peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda that could provide access to that region's critical minerals; touting $2.5 billion in deals and commitments at the recent U.S.-Africa Business Summit in June; and hosting five West African leaders at the White House in July. 

But the Democratic report says the Trump administration’s gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development has disrupted tens of millions of dollars in funding for projects complementing the development of infrastructure surrounding critical mineral extraction.

It highlighted the Lobito Corridor project, a railway that brings critical minerals from Congo and Rwanda to Angola for shipment across the Atlantic Ocean. China is working on a similar project called the TAZARA Railway, which would connect Tanzania and Zambia and allow for exports of critical minerals across the Indian Ocean. 

The TAZARA Railway “includes Chinese political training and other soft power initiatives to export the Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian style of government. Whichever project is successful will dictate whether critical minerals flow towards the Atlantic Ocean and the United States or towards the Indian Ocean and China,” the report warns. 

The report also highlights the Trump administration’s halting of funds for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and specifically a $649 million infrastructure project in Indonesia, a Muslim-majority nation and regional leader that maintains ties with both the U.S. and China. 

The MCC funds projects in poor but stable countries to help drive new investment opportunities for American businesses. 

While the MCC funds were reinstated, the initial pause “delayed the launching, opening, evaluation and signing of bids for significant procurements,” the report notes. 

“Following consultations with Indonesian counterparts, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Minority Staff also concluded that the pause has damaged America's standing and credibility with leadership in Jakarta,” the report read. 

Shaheen, a centrist Democrat who has worked with Republicans in the past, is using the report to push GOP colleagues to help reverse cuts or save bipartisan initiatives that are on the chopping block with the Trump administration’s rescissions request.  

“I think there are some aspects of the report that we talk about where there's a real interest in seeing them continue — the Millennial Challenge Corporation is one of those, again, a Bush initiative that has been very effective,” Shaheen said in response to a question of whether any GOP lawmakers would get behind the report's recommendations. 

Shaheen also pointed out the Trump administration’s request to cut 91 percent of funding for U.S.-led international narcotics and law enforcement programs as standing in direct opposition to the president’s commitment to combat the opioid epidemic and proliferation of fentanyl.

The report also highlights the administration’s termination of funding for international law enforcement to target cyber crime emanating from Southeast Asia. In 2024, Americans suffered $13.7 billion in losses from cyber-related scams, a 66 percent increase from 2023, the report notes. 

“I can't imagine that there's any serious strategy that eliminates that kind of international law enforcement activity if you're really serious about addressing what the PRC is doing,” Shaheen said, referring to the People's Republic of China (PRC).