FIRST ON FOX: Many African economies are accelerating â booming â since the Trump Administration shifted policy focus from aid to trade, a senior State Department official told Fox News Digital.
In some African countries, doom was forecast when the Trump administration severely cut back USAID funding, but instead theres been unprecedented economic growth, credited to the Commercial Diplomacy Strategy, introduced at the beginning of President Trumps second term.
Now, “nine of the 20 fastest-growing economies (in the world) are in Africa,” Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs Frank Garcia told Fox News Digital.
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Garcia added, “African economies are responding positively to the shift from aid to trade. In 2025, U.S. exports to sub-Saharan Africa increased by 23% to $22.6 billion. And continue to grow this year.”
When the Administration cut USAID by 83% early last year, “The predictions were catastrophic: economies heavily dependent on foreign donorsâfrom Ethiopia to South Sudan and Malawi â were expected to collapse. Instead, something quite different happened,” Anna Mahjar-Barducci, Project Director at the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), told Fox News Digital.
“The African continent proved far more resilient than expected, citing Ethiopia, which revised its 2026 growth forecasts upward despite the funding cuts,” Mahjar-Barducci continued. “According to projections by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow between 4.3% and 4.6% in 2026, outpacing Asia as a whole, whose growth is forecast at around 4.1%. Growth is propelled by massive hydroelectric investments, construction, mining and expanding coffee exports.”
“This is no minor detail,” she continued. “For decades, we were told that without international aid Africa would collapse. Now that aid is genuinely drying up, much of the continent is not only avoiding collapse âi t is accelerating. This is precisely the argument that a long-standing school of African economic thought, now more relevant than ever, has advanced for years: aid is not the solution. In many cases, it is part of the problem.”
Assistant Secretary Garcia explained how the strategy works:” We see this economic acceleration in Africa. In order to best capitalize on it, the United States is focused on driving private investment, sustainable growth in terms of partnership and treating African nations not as aid recipients, but as capable commercial partners.”
He added “Our embassies (in Africa) work directly with the private sector to identify the policies, laws, and regulations constraining U.S. trade and investment. We then work with partner governments to develop practical reforms, identify the officials responsible for implementing them and determine where technical assistance may support implementation.”
It’s a strategy that appears to be working, with Garcia adding, “The Bureau of African Affairs has worked on 37 commercial transactions that have closed since the beginning of the (current) Trump Administration, representing $25.67 billion in total value, with more still being reported. Embassies across the continent are actively working to close hundreds more. Top sectors include Energy 24%, ICT 19%, Critical Minerals and Mi
