The contradictions of Trump's 'commercial diplomacy' in Africa
When I told the head of an Africa-focused startup that I was going to be in Luanda, Angola for the US-Africa Business Summit earlier this week, their quip was revealing: 'So the US still does business with Africa?' That tongue-in-cheek skepticism was absent from the nearly 3,000 people in attendance as a flurry of deals across the continent were announced. President Donald Trump's administration has been keen to champion commercial diplomacy and 'trade not aid' so his top Africa lieutenants Massad Boulos and outgoing Africa bureau chief, Troy Fitrell flitted around for deal photo ops and to champion the US private sector. Witney Schneidman, a board member of the Washington-based organizer, Corporate Council on Africa, said the high attendance suggested 'the new approach is well-timed.'
But concerns remain. The chaotic shuttering of USAID by Trump and Elon Musk and the still unfolding humanitarian fallout in several African countries has unsettled many. There's also the likely end of the AGOA preferential trade policy, then there's the overwhelming focus on African citizens facing US visa restrictions. On the opening day, the new African Union Commission chair Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, slammed the Trump administration's visa and trade approach. Jackie Chimhamnzi, regional director for southern Africa at the Tony Blair Institute said: ' It remains to be seen if the US is incentivized to respond to this unified moment of candor by African leaders'
A decades-long American investor in Africa, who spoke with me on condition of anonymity so he could be frank, said he largely believes the commercial approach is working so far, but he still sees Trump's attitude toward Africa as 'atrocious' and called the visa constraints 'absurd.' He added: 'Somebody, maybe Boulos, needs to tell him that this directly hurts US business.'
When Beijing announced earlier this month in the central Chinese city of Changsha that it would remove all tariffs on exports from 53 of Africa's 54 countries, it handily won a global news cycle. Much of mainstream US media — and even longtime US-Africa watchers — were handwringing over China's growing influence in Africa, even as the US put up more trade barriers that essentially ended the 25-year old AGOA preferential trade pact. But a closer look at China's plan shows it wasn't actually as dramatic a policy change as the headlines suggested. China already allowed 33 low-income African counties to export tariff free. This announcement just meant all countries except eSwatini (because it recognizes Taiwan). It's not even a guarantee to happen, writes China Global South Project's Christian Geraurd Neema: 'The reality is more nuanced,' he says. 'China says it is 'ready' to act,' not that it has agreed to act, he argued. It's all subject to negotiations and a new economic partnership, he explained.
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