US President-elect Donald Trump, after returning to the White House, will continue to fund projects in Africa, aimed at countering Chinese influence on the mainland, said the material of the newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP).
We are talking in particular about the “Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investments“ initiative. (PGII), which is often contrasted with China's "One Belt, One Road". One of the initiative's projects is the modernization of the railway line connecting the Angolan port of Lobito with the copper mining areas of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo and its extension to Tanzania with an outlet to the Indian Ocean.
According to Carlos Lopez, a professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Government at the University of Cape Town (South Africa), during Trump's second term the project will likely continue to receive funding because it “will be seen as strategic a counterbalance to China's control of the most important mineral resources." “But there is a risk that the financing of such projects will be carried out very selectively, guided more by geopolitical goals than by the development priorities of the region”, he added.
During his first term as president, Trump cut funding to African projects and was accused of ignoring the continent. Also, the Republican never visited Africa while in the White House. However, his administration has launched a number of initiatives to increase investment in countries on the African continent in response to China's "growing influence there". Among them, the publication highlights the creation of the organization Prosper Africa and the International Development Finance Corporation of the USA.
PGII is a joint initiative of the Group of Seven countries to finance infrastructure projects in developing countries. It was introduced in 2022