The annual US-Africa Business Summit returns this week in Luanda, Angola convening senior US officials, businesses and African decision-makers under the banner of the Corporate Council on Africa.
For President Donald Trump’s administration, it is an opportunity to articulate its Africa strategy on African soil. It is also another high profile occasion for Angola, after hosting former US President Joe Biden near the end of his term in December last year.
Speeches will be made, hands will be shaken and headlines will announce renewed partnerships. However, critical questions will undoubtedly remain in the minds of African leaders in the private and public sector, which are unlikely to be aired in plenary.
Will the US operate with the same speed, scale and focus as other competitors in Africa?
One burning question African policymakers will quietly ask is whether the US can match the urgency and execution of its competitors?
Examples of China’s Belt and Road Initiative projects such as the standard gauge railway in Kenya, which cost over $3 billion to construct and the $570 million Isimba Hydroelectric Project in Uganda demonstrate the ability to execute large scale projects with relative speed.
The challenge is not about the goodwill but in the follow-through, especially by the private sector.
Is the US still offering Development Finance?
Under previous administrations, US institutions like USAid, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Development Finance Corporation deployed a blend of grants, concessional loans, and risk guarantees to support African development goals.
However, a new wave of commercially driven messaging raises a critical question - will the US continue financing development, or are we now entering an era where only market-rate returns matter?
If development finance is downgraded, Africa’s own institutions will need to double down on the work they have been doing to blend public, private, and philanthropic capital to fill the gap. This could be a catalyst to spur the mobilisation of domestic capital more strategically.
African pension funds and sovereign investors collectively hold over $1 trillion in assets, yet less than 5 percent is allocated to infrastructure or development-linked investments. Blended finance - if properly structured - can become a lever for African governments and the private sector to put their own capital to work alongside global investors.
What next for legacy US initiatives?
African markets have long benefited from initiatives like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), which facilitated over $10.2 billion in African exports to the US in 2022 and supported thousands of jobs through trade preferences and the expansion of Special Economic Zones in Ethiopia, Kenya and Lesotho.
With Agoa set to expire later this year, and the future of initiatives like Power Africa and Prosper Africa uncertain, African leaders will need to know if these programmes are going to be renewed, reimagined, or retired and look at how any vacuum will be filled.
Who Are Africa’s real interlocutors in Washington?
Navigating US engagement is complicated. Washington offers multiple entry points across various agencies including Congress, the White House, and corporate lobbies in contrast to those which have a more centralised investment diplomacy model.
African governments will need to sharpen their approach with empowered ministries of finance, investment promotion agencies with teeth, and centralised policy positions that reflect continental priorities, such as those set out under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
Is there the commitment and endurance to shift the data?
Africa accounts for less than 2 percent of total US global trade, and much of that is dominated by oil, gas, and mineral exports. At the same time, demographic trends show that by 2050, one in four people will be African.
Moreover, the continent’s centrality to critical mineral supply chains and global energy transition goals is of increasing importance. These facts and figures are widely known, but the evidence of growing trade between the continent and the US will be the real litmus test.
There are signs of progress. Microsoft and United Arab Emirates-based G42 recently announced a major $1 billion data centre investment in Kenya - a model of tech-enabled, future-oriented collaboration but more such transformative investments are critically needed.
African countries need leverage, predictability, and execution. Even if these questions cannot be asked out loud, they should be discussed in bilateral meetings, in boardrooms, and behind closed doors. If African leaders don’t ask them now, they may not like the answers they’re given later.
Chimboza is the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change Special Adviser on African Investment & Global Engagement and Baron is the Senior Adviser on Investments at the institute
