The United States Congress has introduced a law that would force President Donald Trump to engage with Africa and invite its heads of State and government to a summit in Washington DC next year, formalising the periodic talks into a traditional policy event.
The annual Defence Bill, if passed into law, will require that the Secretary of State host US-Africa Leaders Summits every four years.
It also mandates the Secretary to hold city summits focused on sub-regional cooperation and establish an implementation office at the State Department to ensure that the US collaborative efforts with Africa translate into tangible outcomes for Americans and Africans.
The must-pass Bill sailed through the House of Representatives this week and is expected to easily pass in the Senate.
The provision mirrors legislation from two Congress Reps, Gregory Meeks and Sara Jacobs.
The Bill was introduced in May 2024 by Congressman Meeks, who represents New York’s 5th congressional district and chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“The Secretary of State should host one US-Africa City Summit (‘‘Mini Summit’’) every four years, to take place two years after the most recent US-Africa Leaders Summit described in subsection (a), across cities in Africa or the United States, or more frequently as appropriate, to promote sub-regional cooperation and serve as a catalyst in fostering engagement with representatives of government, civil society, business, academia, youth, culture and the arts, the African diaspora community, and underrepresented groups.”
Building on the momentum of previous summits, the Bill seeks to ensure ongoing US collaboration with African political, civil society, business, diaspora, women, and youth leaders.
The legislation is buoyed by both the President Barack Obama and Joe Biden administrations that have held the summit twice in Washington.
Obama hosted the US-Africa Leaders Summit 2014 in Washington DC, and the talks focused on trade, investment and security.
President Biden invited leaders to Washington DC for the US-Africa Leaders summit on December 13-15, 2022.
President Joe Biden (centre) poses with African leaders during the US-Africa Leaders Summit on December 15, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Photo credit: File
Trump’s isolationist strategy and “America First” foreign policy may not augur well for Africa, but Congress stresses the need to host African leaders regularly, citing 75 deals since the 2022 summit, putting the US on track to meet its own commitment of providing $55 billion in assistance to Africa by 2025.
Trump, who takes the oath of office on January 20, 2025, might have to host the African Leaders Summit before the end of 2025.
Kenyan former Trade principal secretary Johnson Weru says the Bill, if enacted, places Africa at the centre of US politics with focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.
Mr Weru co-chaired the free trade negotiations between Kenya and the US during President Trump and Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure.
On whether Africa will benefit from the legislation, Mr Weru says it would depend on how the US interprets the World Trade Organisation regulations on reciprocity.
“It depends on how Trump interprets the WTO regulations because, under Article 24 of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), special differential treatment is given to least developed countries. Trump has been trying to advocate a reciprocal trading arrangement, where the duty-free and quota-free market access is two-way. That has been the Trump philosophy,” the former PS told The EastAfrican.
The WTO allows countries to form free trade agreements or customs unions on condition that they eliminate internal barriers and don’t increase external barriers.
The article is an exception to the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) principle, which requires that any advantages granted to products from one contracting party must also be granted to similar products from other contracting parties.
American think tank Atlantic Council says that Africa should expect substantial changes from the US over the next four years under Trump.
“Trump’s focus on a transactional approach with Africa will likely place an emphasis on reducing development assistance in favour of expanding US-Africa business ties and fostering economic growth through free-market principles,” says Rama Yade, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Centre.
“Renewals of Agoa (African Growth and Opportunity Act) and DFC (the US government's development finance institution) in 2025 and the Export-Import Bank in 2026—if they occur—would provide signals of the direction Trump wants to pursue in his trade strategy toward Africa. The fate of certain large-scale projects such as the Lobito Corridor—US President Joe Biden’s major legacy in Africa—will also have to be monitored.”
At the US-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022, the Biden-Harris administration committed to invest $55 billion in Africa over three years. In September 2023, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) signed a $60 million threshold programme with Kenya to strengthen urban connectivity in Nairobi.
In December the same year, the MCC announced that it was returning to Tanzania seven years after it exited unceremoniously protesting against alleged lack of electoral integrity of the 2016 elections in Zanzibar.
Over the past year, the US has welcomed the African Union as a permanent member of the G20, expanded trade and investment partnerships, and advanced major food and health security investments.
Washington has supported and helped close 547 new deals valued at $14.2 billion with African countries. This represents an increase of about 60 percent in the number and value of closed deals in 2022.
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