Discussions about Africa were almost completely absent from the 2024 United States presidential campaign. And, there was no mention of the continent during President Donald Trump’s recent inaugural address.
However, post-inauguration, much is now being penned on what the Trump administration’s foreign policy concerning Africa will possibly look like during his second time in office. Several African heads of state offered congratulations and expressed optimism when he won reelection.
The BBC reported that while the new administration “broke tradition by inviting world leaders from countries including China, Italy and Argentina, there were no African heads of state on the guest list,” at the inauguration.
However, in attendance was the popular Nigerian gospel minister, Nathaniel Bassey, who performed at the U.S. Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast on the morning of Jan. 20. Pastor William Kumuyi, also Nigerian, was invited to the inauguration but did not attend due to weather, however.
“he spent time at a prayer service for the incoming president, as well as meeting political groups,” reported bbc.com, in the article, “The Nigerian pastors who went to U.S. for Trump inauguration.”
According to Dion Forster, professor of public theology at the Vrije University Amsterdam, “Where (former President) Joe Biden would have set up connections with ambassadors, senior business leaders, Trump’s the kind of guy who asks ‘where does the power lie outside of those structures? And how can I bring those kinds of people closer to me?’” noted bbc.com.
Caleb Okereke, founder and editor of Minority Africa, agrees, that the backing of popular religious figures like Pastors Kumuyi and Bassey could help President Trump gain popular support on the African continent, he explained to BBC.
President Trump’s relationship with the U.S. evangelical community, could be seen as a gateway into Africa’s evangelical Christian community. According to worldoil.com, with President Trump’s “We will drill baby, drill” remarks during his inauguration speech, the new administration’s “focus will likely shift towards encouraging U.S. companies to expand their operations in Africa, particularly in the oil and gas sectors.”
“A key question will be whether the Trump administration will provide greater support for American energy companies through financing mechanisms like EXIM Bank (official Export-Import Bank of U.S.), not only for renewable energy projects.
But also traditional ventures like natural gas. This support could provide a much-needed boost to U.S. energy firms seeking financing in a region rich with some of the world’s largest untapped fossil fuel reserves.”
With the Trump administration assuming power ahead of the upcoming Invest in African Energy 2025 Forum in Paris scheduled for mid-May, there is speculation it could lead U.S. firms “to participate and form new partnerships in Africa’s energy sector.”
Given that the Trump administration is pushing “for greater support of U.S. energy companies in Africa, the forum plays a critical role in connecting the U.S. investment community to emerging opportunities across the continent and highlighting the potential for increased collaboration between American investors and African nations,” noted a press advisory by Energy Capital & Power, an Africa-focused platform for the continent’s energy sector.
But what will be the impact for the African continent and its people, which has been subjected to Western interference and neo-colonial policies for decades? Over several U.S. presidential administrations, Africa continues to come out on the losing end, analysts point out. What happens during President Trump’s second time in office will remain to be seen.
“How will the Trump 2.0 policy affect the relationship between the U.S. and African countries?” asked Orion Policy Institute in a report titled, “Trump 2.0 Africa.”
How the U.S. responds to some of the pressing issues being faced by African countries could shape and impact the continent’s internal dynamics. “These and many other questions will remain unanswered in the months following … (Trump’s) move into the White House,” noted the report.
Oluwamisimi Oluwole is a business, science and technology news editor at The Queens University Journal, based in the UK. The day after President Trump’s inauguration, in a commentary titled, “Neocolonialism is holding Africa back from true independence,” she explained that the
“issue isn’t confined to the past—it persists in trade agreements favoring former colonial powers, foreign aid (like USAID) with strings attached, and multinational corporations that extract wealth from the continent without fostering local growth.”
“According to the World Trade Organization over 50 percent of Africa’s exports comprise raw materials, yet the value-added industries that could transform economies remain underdeveloped. … Jobs created by multinational corporations are frequently low-paying and precarious, with profits repatriated to foreign nations rather than reinvested locally,” Oluwole continued.
For all the apparent differences between the former and current U.S. presidential administrations, “foreign policy is something like an iceberg,” noted the January 20 edition of the publication, Foreign Affairs, in an article written by Richard Fontaine. He is policy analyst and CEO of the Center for a New American Security, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.
“The visible portion is gleaming and jagged and draws much of the attention. Yet it also has a far bigger and under examined foundation, one that tends to remain mostly unchanged,” he wrote.
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