As Africa (and much of the rest of the world) waits for the Trump administration to figure out its foreign policies, we have brought together several articles for readers to peruse, noting four main points:
- the security relationship is likely to be shaped by an initial framework of “more of the same” – i.e., worry from the U.S. about radicalism and over-reaction and over-militarization where it appears;
- a likely change in economic relations, with an increased focus on brute economic competition vis-a-vis China and in mineral and oil extraction, with a decrease in preserving the principles of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (which try in some ways to level the playing field with African trading partners);
- as a partial result of #2, much less attention is likely to be devoted to traditional humanitarian concerns such as helping refugees, coordinating to prevent deadly viruses and illnesses, and supporting social, health and educational programs; although,
- the mixture of incompetence in governing and a lack of knowledge about Africa in general means that any of the above could change, not necessarily for the better.