Fault Lines Episode 620: From Aid to Trade in Africa

Today, Les and John sit down with Tibor Nagy, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and former Ambassador to Ethiopia and Guinea, to examine a fundamental shift in how Washington is approaching Sub-Saharan Africa. The Trump administration has broken from decades of aid-and-democracy-driven policy, positioning trade, investment, and strategic partnerships at the center of its Africa agenda — but ambitious intentions have run headlong into a hollowed-out diplomatic infrastructure, ambassador vacancies, and the chaotic dismantling of USAID.What does the collapse of the Sahel and the catastrophic conflict in Sudan reveal about the limits of drive-by diplomacy? Can the administration's business-first model deliver the jobs that Africa's exploding youth population desperately needs, or will poor implementation undermine the strategy before it takes root? With Gulf states, Turkey, and China all vying for influence across the continent, how should Washington prioritize its limited bandwidth — and where does competing with Beijing actually make sense?Check out the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Fault Lines.@lestermunson@johnclipsey@TiborPNagyJrLike what we're doing here? Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. And don't forget to follow @faultlines_pod and @masonnatsec on Twitter!We are also on YouTube; watch today's episode here: Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.