Donald Trump was elected 47th President of the United States of America in the beginning of the week, an unexpected comeback at the White House for the former president after the 2021 Capitol attack following his defeat at the 2020 presidential election before Joe Biden.
Four years later, Trump takes his revenge on the Democrat party and beats Kamala Harris with a comfortable advance. Beyond the multiple comments triggered off by the reelection of a president that never made unanimity, what will be the consequences for the African continent?
The freshly elected president never set foot on the African continent between 2016 and 2020. His first mandate was highlighted by a kind of indifference shown towards Africa, and a lack of interest in this part of the world. In 2018, Trump even used the expression “shit countries” to talk about Haiti and African countries. His only contribution to Africa consisted in the recognition of the Moroccan sovereignty on Western Sahara.
In four years of mandate, Trump welcomed only two African presidents at the White House: Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria) and Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya).
What now? Trump never pronounced the word “Africa” during his campaign. Speaking about foreign policy, he seems to be more focused on Ukraine, Middle East and China than Africa. In the meantime, a few countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and Senegal congratulated the new president for his victory, hoping for a better cooperation with the United States on an economic level.
If nobody really knows what will happen for the US in Africa in a complicated geopolitical context, where the West is little by little losing its influence on the continent before Russia, one thing is sure: Donald Trump will have more power than in 2016 because he has the majority at the Congress.
The House of representatives and the Senate are wearing the Republican jersey, and this majority could even be an absolute one with more power and free hands to enforce the Republican policies. Let us hope this will mean a positive action for Africa, which is a legitimate question given what happened (or did not happen) in the past.