Trump's Africa policy taking shape with Tillerson's trip
Up to now, the Trump administration has had no clear or coherent policy toward Africa.
The president met with visiting African heads of state on the margins of the 2017 UN General Assembly, where he mispronounced ‘Namibia’ and talked about his friends making money in Africa in a way reminiscent of the “scramble for Africa.”
He has met with Paul Kagame, the current chairperson of the African Union, but otherwise his interaction with Africans and Africa has been minimal.
Nikki Hailey, U.S. ambassador to the UN, made a well-regarded trip during which she visited refugee camps and met with President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Still more positively, the administration has also made available substantial sums for humanitarian relief, though it is unclear how much is “new money” rather than left over funding from previous years.
While Tillerson met with thirty-seven African foreign ministers in Washington in November 2017, this will be his first visit to Africa as secretary of state.
The secretary of state is by far the most senior member of the Trump administration to visit Africa, naturally raising the possibility of a reset in the administration’s approach to the continent. On March 6, just before he left, Tillerson gave a speech [see video below] at George Mason University that would seem to be the most coherent overview to date of the Trump administration’s policy toward Africa.
On the positive side, Tillerson acknowledged the importance of Africa to U.S. national interests, and the importance of a U.S.-Africa partnership in a host of different areas. He spoke favorably of initiatives by previous Republican and Democratic administrations, specifically the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Power Africa, and the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).
While all have generally been regarded as successes, at various times President Trump or others in his administration have been critical of them, not least because they are associated with the president’s predecessors. Less positively, his speech was heavily weighted toward security issues rather than political, social, or economic development. Indeed, security in Africa is what most of the speech was about.
The speech foreshadowed no new policy initiative that might be the signature of the Trump administration’s Africa policy, as, for example, PEPFAR was for President George W. Bush or YALI was for President Obama. Curious was Tillerson’s tough language calling for greater engagement by African governments against North Korea’s nuclear program. Tillerson also used harsh language about Chinese involvement in Africa, somehow implying that the Africans could not or would not resist the blandishments of Beijing.
At one point in time, the United States was probably the most popular country in Africa. President Trump’s notorious expletive characterization of Africa and Haiti in January, however, severely damaged the U.S. image on the African street.
President Trump in a subsequent letter to the African Union affirmed the importance of the U.S.-Africa partnership, publicly mollifying Africa’s leadership, which would prefer to move on, but his statement likely did not significantly change the general mood towards him. Particularly on a continent where about half of the population is Muslim, rhetoric from the administration seemingly hostile to Islam and seeming too often to link it with terrorism has also colored negative perceptions of the United States.
President Trump’s travel ban included three African countries, Libya, Chad, and Somalia. African Muslims who follow the Middle East are also chagrined at the Trump administration’s decision to move the U.S. embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Administration proposals to cut the budget of the Department of State, USAID, the UN and its agencies would hit Africa the hardest, in part because it is the world’s poorest and most conflict-ridden continent.
Meanwhile, the administration has not moved to fill the key position of assistant secretary of state for Africa, and other important diplomatic positions remain unfilled, such as ambassador to South Africa and to Tanzania. Neither the president nor the vice president has visited Africa nor has indicated plans to do so.
Nevertheless, given the Trump administration’s lack of attention up to now, the most important aspect of Secretary Tillerson’s Africa trip is that it is happening at all. Its symbolic value, its reaffirmation of the importance of Africa and our partnership with it is more important than the specifics of his departure speech or his exchanges with his interlocutors.
His travel shows that we care, but an ill-considered or insulting presidential tweet could undo whatever Tillerson’s visit might accomplish. So we hold our breath.
Read related news articles
Fact sheet: The President’s trade agenda and annual report
On March 1, 2019, the United States Trade Representative released President Trump’s 2019 Trade Policy Agenda and Annual Report, outlining how the Administration’s trade policies are benefitting American workers, contributing to the strongest U.S. economy in decades, and rebalancing America’s trade relationships and the global economy. In just two years, the Administration has already made significant progress in implementing its trade...
01 March 2019
'Trump’s Africa surprise'
Africa has generally ranked near the bottom of US foreign policy priorities. Historically, two-term presidents have waited until their second term to establish their legacies on the continent, and many one-term presidents have neglected it altogether. US President Donald J. Trump has surprised many by bucking this trend. In December, US National Security Advisor John Bolton unveiled a formal strategy for...
04 February 2019
The Trump administration’s Africa strategy: Primacy or partnership?
Last week, the Trump administration launched an Africa policy that seeks both primacy and partnership on the continent. The administration’s efforts at partnership, especially as it relates to promoting U.S. business on the continent, are likely to be far more lasting and consequential. Ambassador John Bolton set the tone for the administration in a speech where he challenged African governments to choose the United States over...
20 December 2018
Advisor Ambassador John Bolton on the the Trump administration’s new Africa strategy
As delivered on December 13, 2018. Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C. Well, Kim, thanks very much, and thanks to you and Kay for inviting me here. I’m delighted again to be here at the Heritage, an institution that really has contributed so much to the public policy debate for many decades now in the United States. And I’m particularly pleased to be here to unveil the Trump administration’s new Africa Strategy, which the President...
13 December 2018
President Trump’s Africa strategy advances prosperity, security, and stability [incl. Factsheet]
Remarks by National Security Advisor Ambassador John R. Bolton on the Trump Administration’s New Africa Strategy I’m delighted again to be here at the Heritage, an institution that really has contributed so much to the public policy debate for many decades now in the United States. And I’m particularly pleased to be here to unveil the Trump administration’s new Africa Strategy, which the President approved yesterday, and which the...
13 December 2018
'Protecting South Africa from US anti-trade action'
South Africa may well be a “non-combatant” and an “innocent bystander” in the economic warfare which US President Donald Trump has launched against America’s major economic rivals, as trade and industry minister Rob Davies has frequently complained. But it can and should act at least to mitigate the fallout from the gathering global contest, which now also involves Iran. Six months ago Davies first complained...
20 September 2018
Kenya: Foreign Affairs Secretary meets ambassadors in the US ahead of Kenyatta-Trump meeting
Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma is already in the United States ahead of a scheduled visit to the White House by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday. Upon her arrival at the Dulles International Airport on Wednesday, the CS held talks with 28 African resident ambassadors on trade cooperation with the US post-African Growth and Opportunity Act framework (AGOA). She also engaged the ambassadors on the African Continental Free...
24 August 2018
'Trump’s trade action may benefit Africa'
Opinion Piece: The Donald Trump presidency is fast changing almost everything about the US’s role in the world and how the world is managed. No one seems to be spared from its ruthless pursuit of narrow nationalist interests. The recent decision to suspend Rwanda’s right to export duty-free to the US under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa) is meant to stop Rwanda from increasing tariffs imposed on used clothing and footwear...
05 August 2018
'Trump’s Africa policy is a continuation of Clinton’s, Bush’s, and Obama’s'
President Trump’s Africa policy appears to be off to a bad start. First, there was the unfortunate leak of a remark made privately to a group of U.S. senators in February in which the President referred to African nations as “shithole countries.” Secondly, former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s official goodwill visit to several African countries in March was spoiled by the fact that he had to cut his visit short by one day...
23 April 2018
President Trump updates trade preference program eligibility for Rwanda
The President determined today the eligibility of Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda for trade preference benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). In response to a petition filed by the U.S. used clothing industry in March 2017, the Administration initiated an out-of-cycle review of Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda’s AGOA eligibility regarding their decisions to phase in a ban on imports of used clothing and footwear. The...
29 March 2018
Presidential proclamation on adjusting imports of steel into the United States
1. On January 11, 2018, the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) transmitted to me a report on his investigation into the effect of imports of steel mill articles (steel articles) on the national security of the United States under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862). 2. The Secretary found and advised me of his opinion that steel articles are being imported into the United States in such quantities and...
08 March 2018