When it comes to Africa, what would Donald Trump do?
The five remaining candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets haven’t said much about U.S.-Africa relations — hardly a hot-button issue in American politics at the moment. Since we probably can’t expect questions about Feed the Future, or the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or sanctions against Zimbabwe to surface in the primary debates — where job growth and national security reign supreme — the Africa-America Institute brought together some of the candidates’ advisors to speculate on what sort of “Africa legacy” each of them might try to build as president of the United States.
Foreign policy toward Africa has not typically been a divisive subject in American politics. Fiscally conservative politicians lent their support to massive aid packages like the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — or PEPFAR — while the Democratic Barack Obama administration has championed a business-first approach to investments in energy and agriculture. Yet amidst a U.S. primary season more combative and colorful than any in recent memory, even the candidates’ “surrogates” offered some stark — and quotable — differences of opinion.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
