President Donald Trump’s reshaping of U.S. diplomacy has touched only the tip of the iceberg in Africa but the vast continent, home to more than 1.5 billion people and large shares of critical resources, has increasingly demonstrated its significance on the international stage.
In fact, many analysts view Africa—with its 54 nations, each of them bearing unique challenges and opportunities—as one of the world’s most important geopolitical theaters, one that has thus far eluded a sustained, substantial U.S. strategy to explore its untapped potential.
The U.S.’ top rival, China, on the other hand, has doubled down on its decades-long prioritization of ties across Africa at a time of growing competition with Washington that includes a scramble for the very kind of rare earth elements many African nations possess—and over which Beijing dominates in global processing.
But this could change under Trump, whose transactional foreign policy is finding willing partners in Africa at a time when the U.S. may need them most.
“Trump’s deal-focused diplomacy could actually improve upon some of the things that perhaps previous administrations’ more traditional diplomatic approaches may have under-delivered on,” Landry Signé, distinguished fellow at Stanford University’s Center for African Studies and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Global Economy and Development Program and Africa Growth Initiative.
“African leaders increasingly prefer clear transactional relationships over conditional aid structures, with the recent DRC-Rwanda peace agreement representing this pragmatic approach,” he said. “However, success requires recognizing African agency and not viewing them as just tools in a power competition.”
Trump’s diplomatic intervention in securing a ceasefire between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda marked one of a series of peacemaking initiatives touted by the president as proof of his foreign policy success. While, as with many other fronts in Asia and Europe in which Trump has pursued diplomatic resolutions, lasting calm remains uncertain in the bloody conflict plaguing the heart of Africa, the move drew attention to the capacity for the president to play a greater role in the region.
Doing so, however, would require the White House to revamp and broaden its outlook toward the continent, taking into account the full breadth of the task—along with the potential benefits that already align with U.S. goals.
Signé described “U.S. foreign policy toward Africa as driven by four Ps: power, prosperity, peace, and principles,” of which “President Trump is clearly mainly driven by power and prosperity.”
But citing a May report in which he outlined “a new US-Africa blueprint for Trump amid China’s rise,” he also argued that “a new Africa strategy must deliver on all four fronts,” including a “reignition and reconfiguration of support for U.S. companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to further invest in the continent boasting 13 of the 20 fastest-growing economies in the world in 2025.”
“The Trump administration’s transactional approach may actually align well with African leaders’ preference for ‘trade not aid’ partnerships,” Signé said. “Africa possesses approximately 30 percent of the world’s critical minerals
reserves yet the U.S. only imports four critical minerals from two African countries even though the continent has 35 nations with significant reserves.”
Furthermore, he felt that “there are many geopolitical stakes,” noting how China today “controls 85 percent of global rare earth processing” and how “China’s $240 billion trade relationship with Africa dwarfs America’s $47 billion.”
“The U.S. could establish regional processing hubs in Africa which would create jobs and better secure supply chains,” Signé said. “This approach addresses African aspirations outlined in the African Green Minerals Strategy while meeting U.S. strategic needs. The success of the Lobito Corridor, which mobilized over $3 billion in railway and energy investments, is an example of the potential for more comprehensive infrastructure partnerships.”
Source: newsweek