One year after his return to the White House, Donald Trump imposed a radical vision of international relations. At the beginning of 2026, Africa bore the brunt of an American policy oscillating between displays of military force, ideological manipulation, and drastic budget cuts.

1. A diplomacy of force: The Venezuelan precedent and African strikes

American interventionism is no longer hesitant. The recent operation in Venezuela has sent shockwaves all the way to Africa.

1. Diplomatic protest: At the UN Security Council, the African group (A3), through Liberia, firmly condemned these attacks on national sovereignty.
2. Military actions: Africa is not spared. After strikes in Somalia (February 2025), the United States intervened militarily in Nigeria at Christmas 2025.
3. Crisis of confidence: For many academics, such as Professor Muktar Omar Bunza, these interventions, justified by religious or security reasons, hide a more trivial reality: the control of natural resources.

2. “Truth” as a political tool: The South African case

The Trump administration is accused of rewriting local realities to serve its domestic agenda (particularly that of white supremacy).

1. The myth of "white genocide": Donald Trump claims that white farmers in South Africa are victims of a systematic massacre.
2. The reality on the ground: Farmers, like nutritionist Ethel Zulu (who is Black), denounce a lie. Rural crime strikes without distinction of skin color.
3. Citizen reaction: White South Africans have launched the "Not in our name" movement, refusing to be pawns in a "culture war" imported from Washington that threatens the social cohesion of the country 35 years after Apartheid.

3. The End of USAID: A Humanitarian Earthquake

One of the pillars of the Trump doctrine is the dismantling of multilateralism. The closure of USAID (United States Agency for International Development) has immediate consequences:

1. South Sudan: In Juba, nutrition centers are empty of therapeutic food. US aid has been cut by a factor of 14, leaving thousands of severely malnourished children without treatment.
2. Ethiopia: AIDS and sexual health programs are collapsing. The withdrawal of US funding threatens progress made in antiretroviral distribution and HIV prevention.

4. Ambivalence of African opinions

While intellectuals denounce an imperialist drift, public opinion is more nuanced:

1. Fear and mistrust: In Kinshasa (DRC), there is concern about a return to pure mercantilism, where only the quest for minerals dictates American peace policy.
2. Admiration for the strongman: In Ivory Coast, some young people praise Trump's "unfeeling leadership," seeing it as honest pragmatism: the country has no friends, only interests. This admiration, however, is tempered by the tightening of visa policy.

Analysis: The doctrine of "Power Mercantilism"

According to academic Adekeye Adebajo, Trump is not an anomaly but the heir to an American interventionist tradition, mercantilist in its approach. The objective is threefold:

1. Countering China by securing access to rare minerals.
2. To impose a unilateral conservative capitalism .
3. Destroying multilateral institutions in favor of bilateral memoranda, transforming humanitarian aid into a lever for political negotiation.