President Trump's restrictions on foreign aid and targeting of a key agency funding programs around the world may be offering an opening to China.

The groups and the Trump administration are fighting in court while billions of dollars in foreign aid remain in limbo.

ANDREW NATSIOS served as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development during the George W. Bush administration. He is a Professor at the Bush School of Government at Texas A&M University and Director of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs.

The judge faulted the logic of a blanket freeze on foreign aid spending and found that groups that depend on the aid had made a strong initial showing of “irreparable harm.”

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Two non-profit groups suing the Trump administration over its freeze of nearly all foreign aid on Wednesday asked a federal judge to hold administration officials in contempt of court for defying the judge's order last week that the freeze be lifted.

A judge last week ruled that the freeze on foreign aid must be reversed. But Trump's USAID team responded that many contracts give them the right to halt funding.

Aid groups are urging a federal judge to find Trump administration officials in contempt to force them to reopen funding to global programs. USAID says it has a legal right to cancel aid contracts.

The Trump administration said in court filings late on Tuesday that it is not disbursing funds for thousands of foreign aid contracts and grants despite a federal judge's order last week to lift a widespread freeze on foreign aid funding.