Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election was big news across Africa, although much of the news coverage was not jubilant.
U.S. influence in Africa collapsed under President Joe Biden and many Africans profess to admire Trump’s style, but some resent his tough talk about African leaders or worry that his trade policies could hurt their economies.
African leaders mostly offered warm congratulations to Trump, with an especially effusive Kenyan President William Ruto (pictured) praising Trump’s “visionary, bold, and innovative leadership.” Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa looked forward to “beneficial” relations with the second Trump administration.
“I look forward to working together to further strengthen the relationship between our two countries during your term,” said Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday.
“Zimbabwe stands ready to work with you and the American people to build a better, more prosperous, and more peaceful world,” said Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
An exception was Seychelles president Wavel Ramkalawan, who fretted about the “climate crisis” and wondered if the U.S. would “once again pull out of the Paris Agreement.” Trump withdrew from the pact, which is not a binding treaty, while Biden rejoined it.
“What will be the pronouncement of President Trump?” Ramkalawan asked. He probably will not have to wait very long to find out, as the climate movement expects Trump to follow through on his pronouncements that climate change is a “big hoax” and electric vehicles are part of the “green new scam.”
African nations have ostentatiously excluded themselves from making any sacrifices for climate change, which the “Global South” group of developing nations regards as an exclusively Western problem.
“Africa is the least polluter in the world. We clean up the world, so this is where the West should take into account what damage it has done to the rest of the world and contribute what it should,” Ramkalawan said on Thursday, driving that point home.
For all of his talk about climate change and the Paris agreement, Ramkalawan vigorously opposed the European Union’s (EU) proposed carbon taxes on imports produced with fossil fuels.
“This is totally unfair, because the West polluted the world, and because of their knowledge, they then went into research in order to produce renewable sources of energy, and are now selling those, so they are making a double profit – profit from the pollution, and now a profit from whatever they have invented,” he said on Thursday, unconsciously echoing much of what Trump has said about the “green new scam.”
For most Africans, the immediate concern is whether Trump will renew agreements like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which expires in 2025. The AGOA, originally enacted in 2000, grants duty-free access to sub-Saharan Africa for about 1,800 products. Another 5,000 African exports were granted duty-free access by other programs.
The AGOA comes with some strings attached, namely that its dozens of participating nations must demonstrate progress toward developing market economies, legal due process, and representative democracy. They must also offer reciprocal trade advantages to American exports.
The Africa Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) wasted no time hiring lobbyists to push the incoming Trump administration to swiftly renew the AGOA. Afreximbank has reportedly spent $300,000 to date on its lobbying blitz.
Trump has yet to make a definitive statement about the AGOA, but he has indicated he expects African markets to become more open to American goods if they want the agreement to be renewed. In 2019, he won a trade dispute over U.S. textile exports by threatening to expel Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from the AGOA.
Some African leaders were optimistic that Trump would bring a different approach than the often arrogant and condescending tone of the Biden administration, which contributed to getting U.S. forces kicked out of Niger.
“I want to assure members that no amount of intimidation can ever move me from where I am. Now that Donald Trump has won, the sanctions are gone,” said Ugandan parliamentary Speaker Anita Among.
The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Uganda in May over “corruption and gross human rights violations.”
The sanctions targeted Among and other officials who were instrumental in passing Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Law in 2023, as well as security officials accused of using excessive force against protesters. Many Ugandans believe the sanctions were intended to punish Among and the others for opposing the Biden administration’s LGBTQ agenda.
