US steps up contest with China in Africa by focusing on ambassadors’ business deals
New US commercial diplomacy strategy incorporates Trump administration’s ‘trade, not aid’ approach
Within its first 100 days, President Donald Trump’s second administration secured 33 deals worth US$6 billion across the continent, Troy Fitrell, a senior US official for the Bureau of African Affairs, said at the launch of the bureau last month.
The US’ new commercial diplomacy strategy “focuses our efforts on the countries where US companies want to do business and where the data shows we ought to do business”, Fitrell said on May 15.
Meanwhile, Trump has not only overhauled USAID – whose activities helped fight diseases such as HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa – and suspended foreign aid, but has also imposed trade tariffs. The administration has moved to dismantle the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which has invested more than US$10 billion in 24 African countries since 2004.
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Trump also planned to host the next US-Africa Leaders Summit later this year. When the US hosted a similar summit in 2022, former US president Joe Biden pledged to invest US$55 billion in Africa over three years.