As China and Russia gain ground in Africa, the U.S. policy should distance itself from its unpopular European partners.
While attempting to stop the war in Ukraine, President Donald J. Trump must simultaneously focus on reducing Communist China’s global expansion. Africa has become a crucial theater for Beijing’s growing influence. Anti-Western and especially anti-French sentiment fueled by misguided policies has handed China a decisive advantage. Previously, Washington found itself constrained by the backlash of African publics to European misdeeds. However, the much-publicized rift between Washington and the European Union on Ukraine offers the United States an opportunity to engage more productively with African partners without worrying about the sensibilities over the legacy of Europe’s imperial powers.
As French troops retreat from Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Chad, China and Russia have moved in; while America has stood on the sidelines. The Trump administration is calling for a tough approach toward China and its activities across several continents. The rapid expansion of Beijing’s influence in Africa—a continent rich in natural resources and with the fastest-growing population in the world—merits Washington’s engagement.
For the fifteenth consecutive year, China remains Africa’s largest trading partner. Trade between the two exceeded $295 billion in 2024, up 4.8 percent from the previous year. In 2022, 31 percent of construction projects on the continent worth $50 million or more were built by Chinese companies, while Western companies were limited to 12 percent. In stark contrast, in 1990, U.S. and European companies accounted for 85 percent of construction.
In 2024, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $51 billion in loans, investment, and aid to Africa. Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa between 2013 and 2021 exceeded that of the United States, rising from $75 million in 2003 to $5 billion in 2021.
China purchases African resources to raise its global stature. In 2007, by providing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with $5 billion to build vital infrastructure, Beijing gained access to the DRC’s valuable critical metals such as cobalt, copper, nickel, and uranium. The PRC now owns most of the cobalt mines, which hold most of the world’s reserves. China’s share of the continent’s mines has grown by 21 percent since 2019. Chinese companies have made significant acquisitions in copper mining in Botswana and Zambia, copper and cobalt in the DRC, and lithium in Zimbabwe and Mali.
The materials to fuel China’s green energy bonanza and maintain its monopoly on critical mineral refining come from Africa. China is also focusing on ports to control all aspects of trade. Its companies are involved in sixty-two African port projects. A new container terminal at the El Dekheila port in Egypt, the deep-water port of Lekki in Nigeria, and a terminal at the Abu Qir port in Egypt are scheduled for operation in 2025.
China is also heavily invested in inland travel in Africa. Chinese enterprises have built or upgraded more than 10,000 km of railroads, 100,000 km of highways, and more than eighty major energy facilities. The scale of Chinese investment contributes to the positive perception of China among Africans. Resentment over the history of colonial rule has dominated African identity, creating openings for Beijing and Moscow.
One of several advantages China possesses over Western countries in the eyes of African leaders is its apparent policy of non-interference in internal affairs. While Western states have tended to lecture them about democracy, human rights, and economics, these are not important considerations for China. Besides securing its interests, such as extracting strategic minerals, Beijing receives significant diplomatic support from African states in international fora like the UN. For instance, only one African country, Eswatini, maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Historically, the United States was reticent to stymie the involvement of other Western states in Africa. However, the growing distance between America and the EU in the wake of U.S. vice president JD Vance’s speech at the 2025 Munich Security Conference could open opportunities in Africa, with Washington being viewed as less deferential to London or Paris in Africa. France, in particular, is discredited in the eyes of many Africans.
In West and Central Africa, Paris has focused on controlling the financial systems of former colonies and gaining cheap raw materials for decades. During the 1960s, the French authorities established informal ties with the African elite, who guaranteed Paris’s privileged access to natural resources in exchange for military protection. France turned a blind eye to the actions of African dictators who secured French interests, but it supported coups against regimes whose policies undermined its position.
Paris managed the financial policy of African countries through the CFA franc, which was pegged to the euro in fourteen countries in West and Central Africa. In exchange for a guarantee of convertibility, until as recently as 2019, these countries deposited half of their foreign exchange reserves with the French Treasury. If they needed more funds, they needed to borrow from France with interest.
In the current anti-colonial backlash, it is not surprising that France is losing ground. For instance, the French company Orano, which mined 20 percent of the uranium in Niger that Paris needs to operate its nuclear power plants, lost its mining rights after a military junta took power in the country in July 2023. Major French companies like TotalEnergies and the Orange group face “tax harassment” and loss of government contracts as well.
France is not unique in generating an anti-Western backlash through its African policy. Belgium’s post-colonial interference in the Congo and Rwanda was counterproductive and contributed to the increase of China’s influence in Central Africa. British policies across Africa tend to produce less immediate backlash, but the behavior of British corporations still attracts public criticism.
In every case, the story is similar: ex-colonizing powers struggle to retain colonial-era influence and poison the well for American and non-colonial Western investors. Policymakers in Washington need to seize the opportunity for a more proactive American policy based on investment and economic ties in Africa to counter China and Russia free from post-colonial baggage.
Janusz Bugajski is a Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, DC, and the author of two new books: Pivotal Poland: Europe’s Rising Power andFailed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture.
Image: 360b / Shutterstock.com.