The Trump Administration and Africa

President Donald Trump is transforming U.S. foreign policy around the world, abandoning some past approaches and setting new priorities even as he discards some important foreign policy tools and embraces others. He is also redefining American values in ways that break sharply from precedent.

While changing policies toward Ukraine and Gaza have perhaps drawn the greatest attention, President Trump’s new foreign policy has considerable implications elsewhere, including in Africa, which is home to fully one-quarter of the world’s governments and nearly one-fifth of its population. Africa has also been steadily gaining in strategic importance due to its population growth, economic growth, geographic location, and extensive natural resources, among other factors. But what does Donald Trump expect from Africa—and what does Africa expect from him?

On February 27, the Center for the National Interest invited two top experts to answer these and other key questions.

—Joshua Meservey is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where his work has focused on great power competition in Africa and on counterterrorism. His prior experience includes time at the Heritage Foundation and the Atlantic Council as well as research for the Army Special Operations Command, a leadership role at Church World Service based in Nairobi, Kenya, and a term as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia.

—Ebenezer Obadare is the Douglas Dillon Senior Fellow for Africa Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. A former journalist working in Africa, he was the Ralf Dahrendorf Scholar and Ford Foundation International Scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science and later a professor of sociology at the University of Kansas. He has written and edited several books on African governance, culture, and religion.

Paul J. Saunders, the President of the Center for the National Interest, moderated the discussion.