Trump’s Africa policy in a second term – Martin Plaut

Increase military power, reduce aid, and emphasize kicking China out.

source: badminton

go through Daniel Wollman | June 13, 2024

The election for the next US President will be held in November this year. If he is re-elected, Joe Biden’s policy Trump’s policy changes on Africa are predictable, as he has been pursuing a consistent policy and is unlikely to deviate significantly from it in the next four years. But what will Trump’s Africa policy look like in a second term?

according to 2025 Project Report The survey report compiled by several major right-wing think tanks and lobbying organizations, led by the Heritage Foundation, combined with statements and media information from major Republican foreign policy makers, also made it clear what kind of Africa policy Donald Trump might pursue if he wins.

In the eyes of Donald Trump and his supporters, many of the foreign policy initiatives of Trump’s presidency have been sabotaged by civil servants and disloyal Trump appointees who have delayed or obstructed his decisions and plans. Therefore, in order to ensure the implementation of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy agenda during his second term, the Heritage Foundation and other organizations involved in the 2025 project and Trump’s advisors are currently recruiting and vetting reliable and compliant right-wing candidates to take office immediately after Trump takes office in 2025.

This would end the tradition of political neutrality among executive branch and federal agency personnel and amount to a purge of all those who do not commit to complying with Trump’s demands, no matter how unwise, illegal or unconstitutional they may be.

According to the Project 2025 report and other sources, Trump’s foreign policy agenda for Africa requires a radical change in U.S. national security policy toward Africa. First, it think It is in the U.S. national interest to increase U.S.-France cooperation in North Africa to lead counterterrorism efforts and curb Russian military and political involvement in the region and across the continent. “In North Africa, security cooperation with European allies, especially France, is critical to limiting the growing Islamist threat and Russian influence through the Wagner Group’s positioning,” the report states.

The report also transfer The United States should convert all foreign aid to African recipients into loans and cancel all development aid programs, in line with the approach endorsed by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina in February 2024. According to the report, the United States should “shift its strategic focus from aid to growth” and “shift the focus of U.S. overseas development assistance from solely humanitarian development assistance to promoting U.S. private sector engagement in Africa.” The report goes on to state: “While the United States should always be willing to provide emergency and humanitarian relief, a free market-based strategy focused on private growth is more in the long-term interests of both the United States and Africa.”

At the same time, the report maintain The United States should increase funding for military and security operations with African allies and provide more military education, training, and security assistance, as this is necessary to protect American lives at home and abroad and to safeguard U.S. companies, objectives, and interests in Africa.

“National African terrorist groups like Boko Haram may currently lack the capability to attack the United States, but if they were allowed to consolidate operations and plan such attacks, at least some of them would eventually attempt it,” the report states. “The immediate threat they pose is their ability and willingness to attack U.S. targets within their areas of operation or otherwise harm U.S. interests.” Therefore, “the United States should support capable African military and security operations through the State Department and other federal agencies responsible for providing military education, training, and security assistance to foreign countries.”

The report explain The United States should focus on a few countries. “Rather than spreading limited funds across all countries (including some that are unsupportive or even hostile to the United States), the next administration should focus on countries with which the United States can expect to establish mutually beneficial relationships” and “after being designated as priority countries by the State Department, these countries should receive full U.S. engagement.”

The report statement The American people should “stop promoting policies born out of the U.S. culture wars” and stop pressuring African governments to respect the rule of law, human/LGBT+ rights, political and civil rights, democracy, and women’s rights, especially abortion rights. “African countries are particularly (and rightly) unacceptable to social policies imposed on them by the United States, such as abortion and pro-LGBT initiatives,” the report states. Therefore, “the United States should focus on core security, economic, and human rights cooperation with African partners and refuse to promote divisive policies that undermine the deepening of shared goals between the United States and African partners.”

The report Claim The United States must “counter China’s malign activities on the continent.” In particular, the report emphasizes that the United States should “focus on supporting American companies involved in industries that are critical to U.S. national interests or have a competitive advantage in Africa.” Among the most striking specific recommendations, the report insists on “recognizing Somaliland’s statehood as a safeguard against the deteriorating U.S. position in Djibouti.” This suggests that the next Trump administration will support Ethiopia, which has just signed a deal with Somaliland to gain access to its coastal naval and commercial facilities in exchange for a promise to recognize it as an independent sovereign state, against Somaliland, Eritrea, and Egypt, if this leads to war in the Horn of Africa (which seems likely).

Trump may not be particularly interested in the countries he once called Africa’s “shithole nations,” but his foreign policy advisers are clearly determined to implement those policies and recommendations if he wins a second term. Analyst They try to paint as positive a picture as possible of Trump’s first-term Africa policy, particularly praising the “Prosper Africa” ​​program to boost U.S. trade and investment. But even so, they acknowledge that, as John Campbell of the Council on Foreign Relations puts it, putTrump “does not appear to be personally involved in this plan or other aspects of U.S. policy toward Africa.” Campbell acknowledged that “Congress has proven to be a barrier to Trump’s Office of Management and Budget’s proposals for deep foreign aid cuts” and that “if these proposals are implemented, traditional U.S. policies on health, democracy promotion, and security assistance in Africa will be completely destroyed.” This time, Trump’s foreign policy advisers will ensure that Africa gets the Trump administration’s full attention.