View: Africa weighs Trump’s ‘commercial diplomacy’ versus sovereignty

View: Africa weighs Trump’s ‘commercial diplomacy’ versus sovereignty

Yinka’s viewIn the year since dismantling USAID, the Trump administration’s nascent Africa policy team has signaled a clear break from the past. The language is consistent — “commercial diplomacy,” “trade not aid” — and so is the intent: to recast a decades-old, often paternalistic relationship on more transactional terms.The shift has drawn predictable backlash, particularly over abrupt cuts to health and humanitarian programs that could put mi…