Donald Trump’s national security strategy mentions Africa in passing as a source of critical minerals and a counter to China’s dominance.
In November 2025, the United States (US) released its new National Security Strategy describing how the country intends to protect its ‘core national interests.’
These interests not only include ensuring the US ‘remains the world’s strongest, richest, most powerful, and most successful country for decades to come,’ but also articulate what it wants ‘in and from’ the rest of the world.
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The strategy invokes the ‘Trump Corollary‘ to reinforce US dominance in the Western Hemisphere, recently marked by its actions in Venezuela and threats against Greenland. It prioritises economic protectionism, keeps the Indo-Pacific open only to benefit US supply chains, and supports European security by defending Western identity, restricting mass migration, and combatting cultural erosion.
It also seeks to neutralise Middle Eastern adversaries without prolonged conflict and assert US dominance in fields like artificial intelligence, biotech, and quantum computing at the expense of global cooperation.
President Donald Trump seems intent on reducing US presence everywhere except in the Western Hemisphere. While this threatens countries in Latin America and Greenland, America’s approach to Africa seems more limited, focusing on competition for mineral resources, not direct government involvement.
Africa’s role in the strategy is notably limited yet telling, receiving just three paragraphs at the end of the 29-page document. The continent is framed mainly as a cash cow for mineral resources and a battleground for China’s dominance in the global south.
In January, Kenya postponed signing a US$1 billion trade agreement with China, reportedly under US pressure, as it awaits renewal of its eligibility in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA, which lapsed last September despite its devastating impact on African industries, was approved by the House of Representatives this week.
In December, the US delayed releasing US$1.5 billion in health aid to Zambia, conditioning its support to securing access to critical minerals.
The approach towards Africa abandons lifesaving aid and democratic values, focusing instead on partnerships centred on trade, investment and resource extraction. It avoids long-term commitments, especially in military conflicts. It makes exceptions for short, targeted operations to suppress Islamist terrorist insurgencies, such as Nigeria’s Christmas Day strikes, as part of its crusade to defend Judeo-Christian values.
At its core, the new strategy is based on transactionalism – diplomacy as quid pro quo arrangements rather than partnerships grounded in democratic values and long-term goals. Originating in the ‘America First’ doctrine, transactionalism prioritises clear exchanges and short-term gains, ensuring the US maximises its benefits in resources, military cooperation or geopolitical leverage while permitting others to benefit only when this doesn’t undermine American interests.
It views policies based on normative values as harming national interests and favours bilateral, issue-specific deals over multilateralism, treating relationships as zero-sum competitions rather than genuine alliances. For example, in December Trump sought to bolster his ‘President of Peace’ image by facilitating the Washington Accords between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.
Both countries signed an agreement granting US firms preferential access to Congolese minerals, and the US pledged to develop a corridor connecting these resource-rich regions to Western markets, looking to oust China’s longstanding influence in the sector.
Despite the political grandstanding and claims of resolving a decades-long conflict, M23 rebels continued their advance a day after the accord was signed.
These events expose the futility of agreements that prioritise optics, benefitting few while harming thousands. Enduring peace requires firm commitment, decisive political action, and the courage to confront decades of complex ethnic conflict worsened by battles over mineral resources – problems that cannot be resolved with signatures alone.
As we near the first-year anniversary of Trump’s second term, this approach feels all too familiar. The strategy simply formalises what he’s been doing in Africa since day one.
His administration dismantled US Agency for International Development aid overnight, putting 14 million lives at risk. It imposed crippling tariffs on African businesses while enforcing discriminatory travel bans on countries like Mali, Niger, and Sierra Leone.
At the same time, the US dangles incentives like deportation deals with South Sudan, Rwanda and Eswatini that commodify foreign nationals as pawns in international diplomacy, rewarding countries that submit to US demands while marginalising those less willing.
For example, Eswatini reportedly signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the US in May 2025 to receive US$5.1 million for ‘border and migration management’ in exchange for accepting up to 160 deportees over a year.
In December, under the new America First Global Health Strategy, Eswatini signed another bilateral agreement with the US. This five-year MOU, valued at US$242 million, includes access to American technology and Lenacapavir, a US-made HIV-prevention drug.
This transactional approach can forge bilateral partnerships but remains fragile without strong institutional support or strategic foundations. In Eswatini’s case, reliance on short-term, non-binding agreements driven by immediate US interests, such as outcompeting China’s influence in Africa, leaves the country vulnerable.
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African leaders face a dilemma: balancing short-term national gains through bilateral deals with the need to protect long-term regional stability. Many African countries are caught between a rock and a hard place. Exploitative practices that undermine their sovereignty have long existed, but Trump’s administration has made these dynamics more transparent.
South Africa exemplifies how some nations can hold relatively strong positions, but often at significant economic and political costs.
Since Trump took office, his transactional approach has favoured a few at the expense of many, worsening divisions and instability across Africa. African governments must strengthen regional bodies like the African Union and fully implement initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area to coordinate a unified strategy.
By enhancing regional cooperation, building robust institutions, and asserting control over resources, Africa can safeguard its sovereignty and foster stability, charting a sustainable path beyond short-term, often exploitative, bilateral deals.
Kelly E Stone, Senior Consultant, Justice and Violence Prevention, ISS Pretoria
Read the original article on ISS.
Former CIA Analyst Now Top U.S. Africa Official at State; Dealmaking Dominates as Conflicts Spread
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African cities bear the brunt of climate impacts, and cannot afford to wait for international solidarity that may never come.
Multilateral climate action and funding faced a major setback last week when the United States (US) announced its withdrawal from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and 65 other international bodies.
It had already withdrawn from the Paris Agreement and Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) in March 2025, and did not send a delegation to last year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil (COP30).
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The US has historically contributed about 20% of the UNFCCC’s core budget. Last week’s memo said the country would withdraw membership, participation and funding ‘to the extent permitted by law.’
This further entrenches Trump’s ‘America First’ approach that deepens the shift towards US economic and security interests over traditional multilateral aid and diplomacy. Together with other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries’ shifts towards higher defence spending and lower development budgets, this could frustrate hard-earned climate justice progress.
African cities bear the brunt of climate impacts and must act swiftly and strategically to build resilience for population and economic hubs. Local and national governments cannot afford to wait for international solidarity that may not materialise. Effective action will depend on cities’ governance, capacity, legal frameworks, financial mechanisms and advocacy.
Nearly 80% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and over half the world’s population (56%) are concentrated in urban areas, which are responsible for up to 70% of global emissions.
Population density, economic activity and their geographic locations near oceans or rivers make cities vulnerable to climate impacts. These impacts cause direct and compounding effects where people, infrastructure, economic assets and utilities are most concentrated.
The cascading effects on housing, food security, ecosystems, health, education and livelihoods disproportionately affect marginalised groups, including women, children, the elderly, migrants and the urban poor.
Cities are key drivers of economic prosperity and development, and urbanisation offers substantial opportunities if managed well – but poses serious risks if not. Most African cities (83%) are rated at ‘extreme risk’ for climate change vulnerability.
Africa has an urban annual growth rate of about 3.5% and 86 of the world’s 100 fastest-growing cities. The percentage of people living in Africa’s urban areas has grown from 15% in the 1960s to 43% in 2018 and is expected to pass 50% by 2030.
Over 265 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in informal settlements, and the proportion (currently 53%) of informality is growing at the fastest rate worldwide. The unplanned nature of informal settlements heightens their vulnerability: inadequate structures often located on unwanted land not intended for residential use.
Vulnerability is compounded by poverty, overcrowding and poor infrastructure and services. Climate shocks push people further into poverty and negative coping strategies, such as selling assets, reducing food, degrading environmental resources, removing children from school or moving.
Local governments are closest to the highest number of people, and should lead transformative actions. However, cities are not parties to international conventions and must be creative in influencing and accessing relevant instruments.
‘Loss and damage’ refers to climate impacts that are beyond adaptation. In 2025, developing countries’ loss and damage needs were estimated at between US$128 billion and US$937 billion.
Progress is being made within the UNFCCC through three loss and damage entities. These are the Warsaw International Mechanism, which coordinates policy and knowledge; the Santiago Network, connecting countries and communities with technical assistance; and the FRLD, which provides funding. The FRLD addresses gaps in climate financing systems that are largely inaccessible to vulnerable communities.
As of November 2025, only US$817 million had been pledged to the FRLD, and less than half had been paid in. It launched the first call for funding at COP30 in Brazil and is accepting grant requests to strengthen national responses to climate-induced disasters until June 2026. At least 50% must go to small island developing states and least developed countries.
Much is yet to be determined about what the FRLD will cover, whether it will have a window reserved for urban impacts and how losses and damages will ultimately be calculated. Calculations are typically based on national GDP losses, even though cities generate about 80% of GDP.
Robust tools to assess and predict urban loss and damage are not yet available. There is a growing call for a ‘science of loss’ to inform more accurate policies, but it has largely overlooked cities.
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Despite these unknowns – or because of them – African cities cannot wait for clarity or leadership from afar to act on loss and damage. A recent Institute for Security Studies policy brief recommends opportunities for action by city and national governments.
It suggests cities conduct vulnerability assessments that include economic and non-economic loss and damage, develop clear loss and damage messages, and increase advocacy. It recommends they maximise city-to-city solidarity internationally and within countries, and engage more actively with existing city networks to influence high-level decisions.
National governments should build multi-level loss and damage governance capacity. Agendas should be integrated vertically between government levels and horizontally with other stakeholders. They also need to include urban loss and damage in Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans to improve planning, financing and implementation.
For more on this topic, read the ISS policy brief: ‘African cities are key to dealing with climate loss and damage’.
Aimée-Noël Mbiyozo, Senior Research Consultant, Migration, ISS
Read the original article on ISS.
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In his final annual address outlining his priorities, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world is “brimming with conflict, impunity, inequality and unpredictability” – even as international cooperation is fraying at the moment it is most needed.
Speaking in the General Assembly, he said the global system was under unprecedented strain from wars, division, climate breakdown and the erosion of respect for international law.
He framed the speech as both a diagnosis of the current global disorder and a personal commitment to press for change during his final year in office.
The Secretary-General’s three guiding priorities
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1. Uphold the UN Charter
Respect for international law without exception, including protection of civilians, human rights and the rule of law.
2. Peace between nations and peace with nature
Ending conflicts while addressing their root causes through development, human rights and climate action.
3. Unity in an age of division
Countering inequality, exclusion, racism and disinformation by building inclusive, united societies.
Read the address here.
Listen to the Secretary-General’s address.
‘The context is chaos’
“The context is chaos,” Mr. Guterres told delegates. “We are a world brimming with conflict, impunity, inequality and unpredictability.“
Rather than presenting a checklist of initiatives, he said he wanted to look beyond the coming year and focus on the “larger forces and megatrends shaping our world,” identifying three principles that must guide the work of the United Nations and its Member States.
At a time when geopolitical divisions are widening amid cuts to development and humanitarian funding, Mr. Guterres said multilateralism itself was being tested.
“That is the paradox of our era: at a time when we need international cooperation the most, we seem to be the least inclined to use it and invest in it,” he said, adding: “Some seek to put international cooperation on deathwatch. I can assure you: we will not give up.“
Peace is more than the absence of war
The UN chief highlighted ongoing UN engagement on conflicts from Gaza and Ukraine to Sudan and Yemen, while stressing that silencing the guns alone would not be enough.
“Peace is more than the absence of war,” he said, arguing that poverty, lack of development, inequality and weak institutions continue to fuel violence. “Sustainable peace requires sustainable development.“
Mr. Guterres was blunt about what he described as the visible erosion of international law. “The erosion of international law is not happening in the shadows. It is unfolding before the eyes of the world, on our screens, live in 4K,” he said.
He pointed to attacks on civilians and humanitarian workers, unconstitutional changes of government, silencing of dissent, trampling of human rights, and plundering of resources.
He also raised alarm about the growing concentration of wealth and power, noting that the richest one per cent now hold 43 per cent of global financial assets. “This level of concentration is morally indefensible,” he said.
Keep control of technology
Mr. Guterres also highlighted the challenges of emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, cautioning that algorithms shaping public life must not be controlled by just a handful of companies. “We must ensure humanity steers technology, not the other way around,” he said.
Turning to climate change, the Secretary-General warned that a world in climate chaos “cannot be a world at peace,” stressing that while a temporary overshoot of the 1.5°C temperature threshold was now inevitable, it was not irreversible.
He urged faster emissions cuts, a just transition away from fossil fuels and scaled-up climate finance.
Mr. Guterres also underscored the need for reform of global institutions, including international financial bodies and the Security Council, arguing that “1945 problem-solving will not solve 2026 problems.”
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Structures that fail to reflect today’s world, he warned, would lose legitimacy.
A personal note
In his address, the Secretary-General also struck a personal note, reminding delegates that this would be his last annual priorities address.
“Let me assure you that I will make every day of 2026 count,” he said. “I am fully committed and fully determined to keep working, to keep fighting, and to keep pushing for the better world that we know is possible.”
Mr. Guterres took office in January 2017, succeeding Ban Ki-moon of the Republic of Korea, at a moment of relative optimism for multilateralism, shortly after world leaders had agreed the Paris Agreement on climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the SDGs) – which succeeded the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Read the original article on UN News.
AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 120 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.
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