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Blitzed by Trump tariffs, can Africa and Europe agree on trade?

Carlos Lopes. Pic: @LopesInsights
Carlos Lopes. Pic: @LopesInsights

Former advisor to the AU warns the two continents remain far apart on climate and industrialisation goals

The European Commission plans to ‘diversify’ relations with its trading partners as it faces the reality of United States President Donald J Trump imposing tariffs of 25% on its cars, steel and aluminium and 10% on all other goods. The Commission has set itself a December deadline for concluding talks on a trade deal with India and opened discussions with the United Arab Emirates and Thailand. So where is Africa in the queue? The Commission and the African Union will hold a ministerial meeting on 21 May ahead of a leaders’ summit later this year, though a date for the latter is yet to be set.

Security falls apart as Biya totters

General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema meets President Paul Biya, December 2023. Pic: presidentpaulbiya
General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema meets President Paul Biya, December 2023. Pic: presidentpaulbiya

Focussing on fixing national elections in October, top officials are failing to respond to the insurgents targeting the regime

The collapsing security system in Cameroon is seriously threatening 92-year-old President Paul Biya’s regime in what many in Yaoundé say is its twilight period. Determined to run for...

The budget fight threatening to shatter the coalition

Enoch Godongwana. Pic: GovernmentZA
Enoch Godongwana. Pic: GovernmentZA

Both the ANC’s Ramaphosa and the DA’s Steenhuisen are fighting to preserve power-sharing – but for vastly different reasons

When Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana failed to secure backing within the Government of National Unity (GNU) on 12 March for his proposal to raise VAT from 15% to...

Washington tries a new push in Kinshasa

Massad Boulos meets with Félix Tshisekedi. Pic: @Presidence_RDC
Massad Boulos meets with Félix Tshisekedi. Pic: @Presidence_RDC

President Trump’s special advisor is testing transactional diplomacy amid the conflict and the continent’s biggest reserves of critical minerals

Washington’s latest intervention in Kinshasa, led by Massad Fares Boulos, senior advisor to United States President Donald Trump, is disrupting the calculations of Congolese politicians and warlords. Boulos,...

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How Trump’s in-law shut down the Kinshasa lobbyists

Massad Boulos meets with Félix Tshisekedi. Pic: @Presidence_RDC
Massad Boulos meets with Félix Tshisekedi. Pic: @Presidence_RDC

After meeting the US President’s senior Africa envoy, President Tshisekedi has blocked millions of dollars’ worth of consultancy deals

After agreeing contracts with a string of K-Street lobby shops worth close to US$8 million with mandate to broker a mineral access deal with US President Donald Trump’s...

Ruto’s fiscal gamble – can he break the debt trap by 2027?

Pic: @WilliamsRuto
Pic: @WilliamsRuto

Government looks to China and the UAE for funding as growth and revenues fall short and it bets on a pre-election spending boom

At the heart of President William Ruto’s calculus ahead of his re-election bid in 2027 is a bet that Kenya’s economy will have recovered enough to allow him...

IMF sees economic light in Addis amid political gloom

ETHIOPIA: OPTIMISM ON GROWTH, REVENUES, DEBT REDUCTION. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2025
ETHIOPIA: OPTIMISM ON GROWTH, REVENUES, DEBT REDUCTION. Copyright © Africa Confidential 2025

The Fund expects high growth and increasing tax revenues as Abiy Ahmed’s pro-market reforms bed in

As Ethiopia’s government grapples with insurgent forces in its Amhara, Oromo and Tigray provinces and heightened tensions with neighbouring Eritrea and Somalia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his...

Economic rebound complicates debt talks

Abiy Ahmed Ali. Pic: @AbiyAhmedAli
Abiy Ahmed Ali. Pic: @AbiyAhmedAli

Officials in Addis Ababa say the restructuring is almost agreed – but commercial creditors want better terms as growth picks up

Ethiopian officials are making progress towards restructuring US$8.4 billion external debts owed to official creditors, announcing an ‘agreement in principle’ on 21 March but they are locked into...

Ailing Salva ups the ante

Benjamin Bol Mel and Salva Kiir Mayardit. Pic: @benbolmel
Benjamin Bol Mel and Salva Kiir Mayardit. Pic: @benbolmel

Salva has made aggressive moves with Ugandan backing as a visa row with the US marks the superpower’s turn away from its one-time friend

Amid visible signs of worsening ill-health, President Salva Kiir Mayardit has been moving to protect his authority and succession, just as the house arrest of First Vice-President Riek...

Mamady Doumbouya plots a popular mandate

Mamady Doumbaya. Pic: @presi_doumbouya
Mamady Doumbaya. Pic: @presi_doumbouya

The sudden release of former dictator Camara fits with the junta leader’s plan to silence party politics and fashion a presidential election victory

One is a self-promoted general – Mamady Doumbouya, head of the military junta, the Comité national du rassemblement pour le développement (CNRD), in power since September 2021. The...

Biya’s grip in question ahead of the October elections

Paul Biya. Pic: @PR_Paul_BIYA
Paul Biya. Pic: @PR_Paul_BIYA

Political insiders are circling as the 92-year-old leader is eclipsed by the ambitious secretary general Ngoh Ngoh

Assuming he wins elections expected in October, by the end of his next term Cameroonian President Paul Biya will be 99 years old. He would have ruled the...

Tinubu bets the farm on Rivers State

Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd) takes oath of office before President Bola Tinubu, State House, Abuja, March 2025. Pic: @NGRPresident
Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd) takes oath of office before President Bola Tinubu, State House, Abuja, March 2025. Pic: @NGRPresident

Determined to control the state’s politics and oil before the 2027 elections, the President has suspended an opposition governor

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