American Foreign Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Where to from here?
Intro
Following Donald Trump’s surprise election in late 2016, the relative stability of American foreign policy on the continent has been called into question. Apart from Trump’s general unpredictability and lack of clarity on policy issues, all three main areas of co-operation are areas where Trump has publicly broken with American policy orthodoxy. This raises questions around what impact Trump will have on the existing ties between America and Sub-Saharan Africa and what this will mean for the region.
Trump has said relatively little about Sub-Saharan Africa thus far and it is likely the region will receive sparse attention in the new American administration. The result of this would be that policy on Africa would fall to career diplomats, who are unlikely to make any substantive changes. However, that is not necessarily the case in all areas and the impact of more general policy shifts under Trump may have an impact on the continent.
Trade:
American policy on trade in Africa has developed based on the idea that trade into Africa would promote economic growth and thus foster stability and the growth of democracy. This led to the establishment of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2000. AGOA aimed to enhance Sub-Saharan African countries’ access to the American market by granting them tariff free access while basing eligibility on whether countries were working to improve labour and human rights standards and the rule of law. The Act now applies to over 40 countries and is responsible for almost all trade between America and the region. It is estimated to have created 120 000 jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa and has more than doubled trade between the region and America.