Washington Post Editorial on US-China AI Competition in Africa

 The Washington Post published on 27 August 2026 an editorial titled "How the U.S. Can Beat China in Africa's AI Race."

Software developers across Africa are adapting Chinese models to build applications tailored for African users.  But China has no monopoly on AI projects in Africa.  In compute, the US has far more to offer than China.  The US needs to revive its Power Africa initiative, which came to an end when the Trump administration dismantled USAID, in order to support African data centers.  

Africa and the Trump Administration

 AllAfrica.com posted on 23 October 2025 a commentary titled "Africa Should Not Expect Much from Donald Trump" by Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs during the Obama administration.  

Carson looks back and forwards, concluding that the Trump administration will be minimally engaged in Africa as programs from previous administrations shut down.  

Africa: China Provides Financing; US Can Offer Infrastructure for Democracy

 The Washington Post published on 2 January 2023 an editorial titled "The U.S. Should Think of Africa as a Partner, Not a Pawn."  

The editorial suggests that the United States should treat African countries as full equals and focus on providing the infrastructure of democracy.  It starts with a commitment to prosperity, durable democratic institutions, and a mutual respect that acknowledges both sides have much to gain.  

China Radio International Discussion of US-Africa Leaders Summit

 China Radio International (CRI) posted on 16 December a 40-minute podcast titled "How Much Change Will the 2nd U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Bring to America's African Policy?"  Liu Kun hosted the program.  Panelists were Abdullahi Boru Halakhe, African policy analyst, He Wenping, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and me.  The segment begins 15 minutes in to a longer program on World Today.  I was able to access it on Google Podcasts.  CRI is controlled by the government of China.  

This was a wide-ranging and generally balanced discussion of US policy in Africa and the outcome of the US-Africa Leaders Summit.  It also considered China's role on the continent and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war.  

Secretary Blinken Refocuses US Africa Policy

 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a major speech on US Africa policy in Abuja, Nigeria on 19 November 2021.

He identified the main pillars of the Biden administration policy on Africa.  The speech made no direct mention of China, a significant break from the Trump administration, although it did warn of opaque infrastructure deals and the rise of authoritarianism around the world.

Blinken said explicitly the United States does not want Africa to limit its partnership with other countries.  It just wants to make partnerships with the United States even stronger.  Washington does not want to make Africa choose partners, but rather to give Africa choices.  

The Washington Post covered the speech on 19 November 2021 in an article titled "Blinken Lays Out U.S. Policy toward Africa and Deliberately Avoids Mentioning China" by John Hudson.  

The New York Times covered the speech on 19 November 2021 in an article titled "China's Influence Looms Over Blinken's Africa Visit" by Michael Crowley.  

US Policy in Africa

Tibor Nagy, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, testified on 12 December 2018 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on US policy towards Africa. His remarks were titled "Development, Diplomacy, and Defense: Promoting U.S. Interests in Africa."

Nagy repeated many of the Africa policy themes that were common in previous administrations. There was one change concerning China, which he said is asserting itself in Africa economically, militarily, and politically. As a result, the US must remain a positive alternative, and make clear that engaging with the United States will mean greater prosperity and security for Africa.

Africa and China: Industrialization, Agricultural Reform or Export of Natural Resources?

The Washington Post Monkey Cage published on 24 July 2018 an article titled "Xi Jinping Is Visiting Africa This Week. Here's Why China Is Such a Popular Development Partner" by Deborah Brautigam, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Commenting on Xi Jinping's recent visit to Rwanda, Senegal, and Mauritius, the author explains that China is gaining popularity in Africa by supporting industrialization, which is the top priority of many African leaders.

The East African published on 1 August 2018 an interview with Holger A. Kray, agricultural economist at the World Bank, titled "Is East African Agriculture at Risk of Playing Second Fiddle to Oil Wealth?"

While the interview does not deal with China or industrialization, it makes the point that in several East African countries the economic policy focus should be on commercialization of agriculture rather than a reliance on the export of oil. The key challenge for Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan, says Kray, is how to support the agricultural sector to take advantage of the shift in consumer behavior and consumer demand globally towards higher quality agricultural products.

My point is that there is no single prescription for economic success in Africa's 54 countries. Some combination of industrialization, agricultural reform, resource extraction, and enhancement of the service sector is required. My concern is that the current emphasis by many African leaders, supported by China, to focus on industrialization will have disappointing results. A small number of African countries may be ready to shift significantly into industrialization; most are not. Most would be well advised at this stage of development to focus their energy on the improvement of agriculture, including policy reform.

Trump's Africa Policy

Lobelog posted on 23 April 2018 a commentary titled "Trump's Africa Policy Is a Continuation of Clinton's, Bush's, and Obama's" by Herman J. Cohen, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs.

Cohen underscores the continuity in US policy towards Africa from one administration to another that has continued so far into the Trump administration.

Competing in Africa: China, EU and US

Brookings published on 16 April 2018 an analysis titled "Competing in Africa: China, the European Union and the United States" by Witney Schneidman and Joel Wiegert.

The authors conclude that China's commercial presence in Africa will continue to grow but raise questions about its loans adding to Africa's debt burden. The EU will focus on providing European companies with competitive tariff advantages. The US Congress is currently driving, to the extent anyone is driving, US policy towards Africa.

US-Africa Policy

Deutsche Welle posted on 17 November 2017 remarks by Donald Yamamoto, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, titled "US State Department: 'We're Looking at Africa in 2050'."

Since occupying the White House, the Trump administration has said very little about its policy in Africa. Donald Yamamoto shed some light on US Africa policy in remarks made to Deutsche Welle on the margins of a conference in Washington last week with African foreign ministers.

How Donald Trump Could Give China a Real Boost in Africa

The China Africa Project did a half hour podcast on 7 January 2017 titled "How Donald Trump Could Give China a Real Boost in Africa" with Janet Eom, research manager at the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

The podcast with Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden covered a range of issues that included trade, Power Africa, Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, human rights, and LGBT issues.

Africa: The Obama Legacy and Prospects for the Trump Administration

The VOA Encounter program with Carol Castiel ran over the weekend of 25 November 2016 a half-hour discussion of President Obama's legacy in Africa and the outlook for President-elect Trump. The guests were J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center, and myself.

US Trade and Investment with Africa

The White House published on 21 September 2016 a fact sheet titled "U.S.-Africa Cooperation on Trade and Investment Under the Obama Administration."

This document offers a good summary of U.S. programs and efforts to increase trade and investment with Africa. U.S. investment in Africa has increased impressively from a total of $37 billion in 2008 to $64 billion in 2015. Trade, on the other hand, has dropped sharply from $142 billion in 2008 to $52 billion in 2015. Most of the decline is accounted for as a result of reduced oil imports from Africa following fracking in the United States.

The US, China and Africa

The Economist published a piece on 25 July 2015 titled "Africa and America: The Prodigal Grandson Returns."  It makes some useful comparisons concerning the United States and China in Africa, noting that Sino-African trade continues to outpace US-African trade while US aid to Africa is much higher than Chinese aid to Africa. 

President Obama's Remarks at African Union Headquarters

President Obama addressed the people of Africa on 28 July 2015 at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  His speech, in my view, was the most important one he has ever made on the subject of Africa.  You can listen to and watch the delivery here by going to the tab under 28 July 2015.

You can read the text of the remarks as delivered here.


The Institute for Strategic Studies published on 29 July 2015 a good analysis of the speech titled "Think Again: Why Obama's AU Speech Matters" by Simon Allison.

The Washington Post published on 28 July 2015 an analysis titled "Despite Economic Gains, Obama's Work in Africa Is Unfinished" by Juliet Eilperin and Kevin Sieff.  It also comments on the speech at the African Union.

US Relations with Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) published on 23 July 2015 an analysis titled "President Obama's Engagement with Africa: Managing Complex Relationships" by Richard Downie, deputy director of the Africa Program at CSIS.  Downie analyzes the US relationship with Nigeria, Kenya, and Ethiopia.  President Obama met with President Buhari of Nigeria in Washington and visited Kenya and Ethiopia in July.

US-Africa Summit and the Future

George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs asked me to comment on the impact of the U.S.-Africa Summit that took place in Washington in August 2014.  It published the brief interview on 13 October 2014. 

Reflections on US-Africa Summit

The Wilson Center in Washington published in August 2014 an analysis titled "Reflections on the Summit: Wither US-Africa Relations?" by Monde Muyangwa, director of the Africa Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  The author concludes that the summit had a positive outcome but added it needs to be institutionalized in order to sustain the US commitment to Africa. 

Energy Investments in Africa by the U.S., Europe and China

The International Association for Energy Economics published an analysis titled "Energy Investments in Africa by the U.S., Europe and China" by Giorgio Gualberti, University of Lisbon;  Morgan Bazilian, Columbia University; and Todd Moss, Center for Global Development.  AidData Beta published on 20 August 2014 an excerpt from the article. 

The original article concludes that the major challenge for African policymakers is to manage these giant players in a way that maximizes the flows--and ultimately boosts the generation and distribution of energy to reach the millions of Africans currently living without. 

US-Africa Summit: VOA Discussion with Cohen and Shinn

The Voice of America "Encounter" program with Carol Castiel on 8 August 2014 discussed the outcome of the US-Africa Summit with Hank Cohen, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, and myself.  This wide ranging 30 minute radio discussion dealt with investment, aid, trade, security, Ebola, human rights, Power Africa, natural resources, the Export-Import Bank, China, and the role of the private sector.