U.S. President Joe Biden finally fulfilled his promise of visiting Africa almost two years after the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022. Biden’s visit to Angola came almost a decade after former President Barack Obama visited Ethiopia and Kenya in 2015 – the last visit by a U.S. president to sub-Saharan Africa. Biden’s long-promised visit aimed to showcase U.S. investments in Africa, and particularly Angola, but it is widely believed that his efforts were also intended to diminish Beijing’s influence, which has been growing particularly since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative.
On December 1, Biden departed for Angola, becoming the first U.S. president to visit the country. The trip indicated an improvement in the bilateral relations between the two countries. After gaining independence from Portugal in 1975, the Republic of Angola was politically in the orbit of Russia and China. However, it has been moving toward the U.S. orbit under its current President João Lourenço, who is seeking closer relations with the West.
Biden’s visit was focused on the Lobito Corridor, a Washington-backed railway project that aims to steer critical minerals away from Beijing. This railway project aims to connect resource-rich Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the port of Lobito in Angola on the Atlantic Ocean. Angola itself is also replete with natural resources including oil, cobalt, and lithium. The Lobito Corridor could offer an efficient and fast means to export natural resources to the United States and Europe.
The 1,300 km railway corridor was launched in 2023 as a partnership between the U.S., EU, Angola, Zambia, and the DRC, as well as the Africa Finance Corporation and African Development Bank. In order to highlight the progress of the corridor, Biden and Lourenço co-hosted leaders from the DRC, Tanzania, and Zambia during the last day of his visit on December 4.
The growing U.S. engagement with Africa, epitomized by the Lobito Corridor, is deemed a counterbalance to China’s influence and thus can have implications for Beijing. However, China’s influence in and engagement with African countries have significantly increased during the last two decades, which cannot be overturned by Biden’s delayed trip. China, particularly under its BRI program, has become the largest creditor and trading partner of the African continent. Moreover, China’s annual foreign direct investment flows to Africa have been growing by leaps and bounds. Since 2013, Beijing’s investment in the continent has exceeded that of Washington, as U.S. FDI flows have been on a declining trend since 2010.
Over the last 11 years, China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects across Africa, including railway and highway networks under the BRI. According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Chinese BRI investment has built more than 80 power facilities, around 20 ports, and over 12,000 kilometers of road and railway networks in Africa. Besides these projects, China in recent years has steered its investment toward critical minerals, which it needs to boost its green and high-tech industries. Hence, China has firmly established itself within the continent while presenting itself as Africa last hope, if not its best bet.
However, growing U.S. interest in the continent can be alarming for China’s influence in the region. Washington has traditionally seen the African continent through the lens of humanitarian crises and financial aid. However, this trend seems to be changing now as U.S. policymakers move to counteract China. The United States pledged in 2022 to invest $55 billion in Africa over the following three years. It is reported that more than 80 percent of that commitment has already been fulfilled. Additionally, since Biden’s promise to visit the continent in 2022, over 20 Cabinet-level and senior officials have made visits to Africa, including Vice President Kamala Harris’ nine-day tour of Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia in March last year. Also in 2023, the United States struck 547 new trade and investment agreements worth $14.2 billion with African nations, which represented an increase of 67 percent from the previous year. This depicts a shift in U.S. foreign policy toward the African continent. Nonetheless, there is more to be done to offset Beijing’s well-established influence.
There’s also a question as to whether the incoming Trump administration will continue his predecessor’s policy toward Africa. Trump did not visit any countries in Africa during his first term. Upon his return to the White House, the president-elect will be faced with an African policy riddled with contradictions.
For the U.S. foreign policy establishment, Africa is still a strategic backwater despite the current administration’s efforts to strengthen ties with the continent. That is why the Biden administration’s efforts to resolve conflicts in different African countries by imposing sanctions and appointing special envoys has not borne any concrete fruit. Furthermore, U.S. embassies across the region remain under-sourced and understaffed, which would further be exacerbated if the Trump administration decides to cut funds and staff as proposed by its transition team.
In case the Trump administration does not move forward with Biden’s Africa policy, then the recent growth in Africa-U.S. relations will not have much effect on China. Trump is very likely to go tough on China, as has been indicated by his hawkish Cabinet picks. But it is yet to be seen whether that would have any effects on China’s influence in Africa.
