With a view to strengthening cross-border partnerships and commercial ties, U.S. President Joe Biden announced over $15 billion in bilateral trade and investment deals between the U.S. and Africa at the 2022 U.S.-Africa Business Forum in Washington D.C. last week.
These commitments target strategic areas of shared interest, including sustainable energy, healthcare, agribusiness, digital connectivity, infrastructure and finance.
In addition, the Export-Import Bank of the United States signed a $500-million Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the African Export-Import Bank to enhance its commercial ties on the continent, as well as another $500-million MoU with the Africa Finance Corporation to promote U.S.-Africa trade and support financing for trade-enabling projects.
In recent years, U.S. foreign policy in Africa has shifted towards prioritizing private sector development projects with high financial returns – rather than development aid – as well as significantly expanding U.S. financing capacity. According to the White House, the U.S. has helped close over 800 trade and investment deals across 47 African countries since 2021, representing a combined estimated value of over $18 billion.
Additional outcomes from the forum include an MoU signed between the U.S. Trade Representative and African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat; first regional compacts signed between the Millennium Challenge Corporation and Governments of Benin and Niger to support regional trade and integration; President Biden’s launch of a new initiative – Digital Transformation with Africa – to increase digital access and literacy in Africa; and an announcement from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation of $369 million in new investments in food security, renewable energy infrastructure and health projects across the continent.
