What is Biden's Africa Legacy? (And Will Trump Blow It Up?)

Global Dispatches -- World News That Matters

Joe Biden's final foreign trip as President was a long-promised visit to sub-Saharan Africa—Angola, to be precise. Biden had pledged to be the first President to visit Africa in nearly a decade, but the trip was delayed and is only happening with just a few weeks left in his term. Still, the trip was intended to solidify at least one part of the Biden administration's legacy: a major infrastructure project called the Lobito Corridor. This rail line links the mineral-rich regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo to a port on Angola's Atlantic coast.

A key question now is whether this legacy will survive the incoming Trump administration. How might the Trump administration's approach to Africa differ, if at all, from that of the outgoing Biden administration?

Joining me to answer these questions—and many more—is Ziyanda Stuurman, Senior Analyst for Africa at the Eurasia Group. We begin by discussing why Angola is well-suited for a major American investment like the Lobito Corridor and then dive into a wide-ranging conversation about how this investment fits into the geopolitical competition between China and the United States, as well as what might—or might not—change about U.S. policy toward Africa under the new administration.