African countries could face a withdrawal of financial and political support under the US presidency of Donald Trump, according to speakers at a panel discussion held by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) on 29 November 2016.
Guest speaker Susan Page, US chargé d’affaires to the African Union, said Trump’s nationalistic stance could cripple sources of funding for development on the continent. She said this would add to the increasing trend among authoritarian governments of passing laws that prevent the work of non-governmental and civil society organisations in African countries.
“We’ve seen it in Ethiopia and Egypt. We’ve see it in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan – it’s just walking through the whole continent. It’s a way, in some leaders’ minds, of getting foreign involvement out so they can have one easily identified and okayed state opposition,” she said.
Trump won the US presidential election after a jagged campaign against democrat opponent Hillary Clinton on 9 November. The republican candidate’s victory has opened the possibility of a shift towards protectionism in the US that could hurt trade relations with the least developed nations and reign in government spending beyond US borders. The US currently spends around US$30 billion on global aid each year, comprising only 0.19 percent of the national income.
Page however added that China, the world’s second largest economy, has superseded US-led infrastructure projects on the continent, due to the expensive nature of US contractors compared to Chinese infrastructure loans borrowed from China’s central bank.
She said US foreign aid institutions such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) face the threat of further cuts to funding under Trump, potentially reducing the US role in developing African economies while opening up opportunities for other countries to intervene. In April 2015, the African Union and the US government responded to the outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa by setting up the Centers of Disease Control in the continent, now known as CDC Africa.
“If Trump really does cut a lot of aid from USAID, over a third of US assistance, not just USAID but elsewhere, is in the health and education areas. It would have a profound effect on opening the way for others to get involved,” Page added.