The Scoop
Democrats in the US Congress are pushing for the reestablishment of an Obama-era business council in Africa to counter what they say is rising Chinese influence on the continent.
In a letter seen by Semafor, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on a hawkish House of Representatives subcommittee focused on China, called on the US Commerce department to reconvene the President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (PAC-DBIA) and host high-level trade missions “to counter the efforts” of China to expand its influence in the region and make further “inroads to the detriment of American interests.”
China’s bilateral trade with Africa reached $280 billion last year, and is now around four times that of the US. Meanwhile the Trump administration has effectively killed the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), a favorable trade pact, with the introduction of new tariffs on African exports.
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While Republicans on the committee did not sign the letter, it captured sentiments they have aired.
The PAC-DBIA was established in 2014, during former US President Barack Obama’s second term, and advised the president on how to strengthen engagement between the US and African countries.
In many ways it would be in line with the Trump’s administration’s own rhetoric around “commercial diplomacy” in Africa, as it pushes back at the primary role of foreign aid in the US role on the continent. “The reconvening of PAC-DBIA and the deployment of trade missions are a necessary first step in competing with [China] in Africa,” wrote Krishnamoorthi in the letter addressed to Trevor Kellogg, the acting under secretary for international trade.
Step Back
The recent cuts by the Trump administration to foreign aid, democracy support projects, and humanitarian missions, alongside rising tariffs and tougher immigration policies, have been driving Africans to China and Russia, analysts have said.
Notable
- The US is stepping up its contest with China in Africa by focusing on ambassadors’ business deals in a new push for commercial diplomacy.
- The Trump administration’s decision to slash foreign assistance creates an opportunity for China to strengthen its presence in Africa, but Beijing will not step in to replace it.