The full report is available HERE.
An abridged version of the report is available HERE.
WASHINGTON – Today, Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen and Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a comprehensive report detailing how the Trump Administration’s first six months have significantly undermined the United States’ ability to compete with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Commissioned by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the report warns that the Administration’s lack of a coherent, whole-of-government U.S. strategy—including leveraging foreign aid, robust diplomatic tools and alliances and partnerships—has created space for China to expand its global influence in ways that harm American economic and security interests. Based on extensive meetings with foreign officials, U.S. companies, and international NGOs, as well as thousands of miles of travel by Committee staff, the report calls for the urgent restoration and reconstruction of the tools America needs to compete with our top long-term national security challenge.
The release of this report comes at a critical moment, as the Senate considers a rescissions package and the Fiscal Year 2026 budget request that would further erode America’s diplomatic and development capacity—directly undermining efforts to compete with China on the global stage. It also follows significant layoffs at the State Department and the effective shuttering of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
The 91-page report, titled “The Price of Retreat: America Cedes Global Leadership to China,” is informed by committee travel to Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, interviews with aid workers, subject matter experts, foreign officials and open-source research. It presents detailed findings on the Trump Administration’s collective actions, including undermining America’s ability to deliver foreign assistance and development programs, gutting U.S.-supported independent media and dismantling counter-disinformation tools. It catalogs the short-sighted elimination of U.S.-led people-to-people exchanges, the abandonment of key international institutions and attacks against U.S. allies and partners. Taken together, these actions have unquestionably weakened America’s ability to lead and compete with China.
“This report paints a troubling picture,” said Ranking Member Shaheen. “While President Trump retreats from every corner of the world—attacking allies, slashing America’s diplomatic tools and embracing adversaries—China is building influence, expanding relationships and reshaping the global order to its advantage. At a time when China is articulating its vision for a future that leaves America behind, the Administration’s abdication of global leadership is dangerous and will impose real costs on the American people. I believe my colleagues on both sides of the aisle recognize the fundamental challenge that China poses to America’s safety and prosperity—from fentanyl to unfair trade practices to a concerning military build-up. Unfortunately, either this Administration does not take the challenge posed by China seriously, or it simply has no coherent strategy to address it.”
President Trump’s sweeping and non-strategic cuts to core pillars of U.S. global strength and influence include:
Waging a global trade war against allies and partners, which isn’t just driving economic chaos and higher costs at home, but is also making it more difficult for allies to increase defense spending, negatively impacting the U.S. defense industrial base and forcing some partners to reconsider closer economic ties to Beijing;
Gutting USAID, including haphazardly cutting the workforce needed for effective foreign assistance programming;
Attempting to shutter the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and its affiliated networks, including Radio Free Asia, even as China expands the global reach of its propaganda;
Dismantling key counter-disinformation functions at the State Department, which support the U.S. as well as allies and partners in detecting and responding to disinformation spread by adversaries;
Pausing and potentially eliminating Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) projects around the world;
Freezing Countering PRC Influence Fund (CPIF) and Countering Strategic Competitors (CSC) programming;
Harming our ability to attract international talent to study and innovate in the United States by defunding U.S. government programs for basic scientific research, attacking international students and top U.S. academic institutions and eliminating U.S.-led people-to-people programs;
Proposing to eliminate nearly all U.S. contributions to key international bodies like the United Nations, and suggesting that the United States will withdraw from these bodies in the near future; and
Proposing to close U.S. diplomatic posts in regions where U.S.-China competition is acute.
Key recommendations in the report:
Rebuild America’s Foreign Assistance and Development Capacity: Congress and the Administration must work to immediately restore humanitarian, food security and global health programs, many of which have been gutted in recent months, to reestablish U.S. presence, soft power and influence.
Require a National Intelligence Estimate on U.S. Foreign Assistance Cuts: The Intelligence Community should conduct a National Intelligence Estimate that examines the impact that U.S. foreign assistance terminations have had on U.S. national security interests, including how China has taken advantage of these terminations.
Rebuild Counter Disinformation Capabilities and Support Independent Media: Rebuild tools to expose and counter foreign disinformation from our adversaries, which are expanding the global reach of their propaganda, and maintain robust U.S. support for global independent media.
Restore U.S. Leadership in Multilateral Bodies: Maintain U.S. contributions to the United Nations and UN peacekeeping efforts, expand American personnel in key international organizations and codify a strategic multilateral staffing initiative within the State Department.
Strengthen Trade and Industrial Base Resilience: Reject the Administration’s reckless tariff policies that damage our economy as well as U.S. alliances and defense supply chains; mandate an analysis by the Department of Defense of tariff impacts from the Department of Defense or RAND Corporation.
Secure Critical Mineral Supply Chains in Coordination with Allies and Partners: Reinstate and expand USAID, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and MCC projects that support alternative supply chains to markets dominated by China.
Protect the U.S. Diplomatic Footprint: Enact legislation strengthening congressional oversight of U.S. diplomatic post closures to ensure that downsizing our footprint does not put the United States at a disadvantage vis-a-vis China.
Maintain Robust Support for the Millennium Challenge Corporation: Protect and fully fund MCC programs that serve as a critical, transparent counterweight to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Invest in Global Talent and People-to-People Exchanges: Provide robust funding for and modernize U.S.-led international educational and cultural exchanges such as Fulbright and the International Visiting Leadership Program, which the Trump administration is attempting to dismantle, even as Beijing expands its own programs.
Fortify the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) Partnership: Maintain and strengthen the AUKUS partnership in order to enhance deterrence in the Indo-Pacific and deepen defense collaboration with our allies Australia and the United Kingdom.
Ensure U.S. Diplomatic Workforce Stability: Enhance Congressional oversight of executive branch reductions in force, which have arbitrarily weakened America’s diplomatic corps during a time of rising global competition.
The full report is available HERE.
An abridged version of the report is available HERE.
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