A new Carnegie Endowment report finds that the termination of U.S. foreign assistance to independent media has gutted newsrooms, emboldened autocratic government crackdowns, and opened the door for Russian and Chinese influence to fill the vacuum.

Science journalism in lower-income countries is being gutted by the U.S. foreign aid freeze, with media non-profit Internews losing 95% of its $126 million government allocation and investigative networks like InfoNile seeing their budgets slashed by nearly a quarter, according to Nature.

The abrupt U.S. foreign assistance freeze has pushed independent investigative newsrooms across the Global South to the brink, with Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism losing 25% of its annual budget overnight, according to this interview with ARIJ Director General Rawan Damen for the Global Investigative Journalism Network.

The abrupt end of U.S. foreign assistance for independent media—once funded largely through USAID—has devastated outlets worldwide that relied on those resources. The shift reflects a broader policy change under the Trump administration, risking not only press freedom in fragile democracies but also American strategic interests in supporting open information environments, according to the Columbia Journalism Review.

According to the Financial Times, a year after the Trump administration cancelled hundreds of millions in labor rights funding, hard-won gains are now at risk. Due to cuts to USAID, the State Department and the Labor Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs, efforts to address some of the worst forms of human exploitation in places like Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Uzbekistan face significant setbacks.

Recent U.S. foreign policy shifts toward isolationism labeled “America Alone” conflict with broad public opinion showing Americans generally support multilateral engagement, alliances, and advocating for human rights and democracy abroad, according to Just Security.

As USAID funding disappears, NGOs are downsizing, shifting power to local partners, and pursuing mergers and new funding models to survive, according to The Conversation.