Walls of Alienation & Realignment

As Trump's Africa policy retreats into isolationism—marked by travel bans, aid cuts, and remittance taxes, a rising Africa, buoyed by China's strategic embrace and a defiant diaspora, has begun to script its renaissance against the backdrop of colonial ghosts and geopolitical reshuffle

- DIPANKAR DEY

On June 5, the US President Donald Trump banned citizens from seven African countries from traveling to the United States, citing risks from terrorism and the prevalence of visa overstays. Since June 9, citizens of Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan are banned from traveling to the US—part of a strong list of twelve countries worldwide facing the measure. Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Togo are among seven nations worldwide to be subjected to partial restrictions. In addition to this, the Trump administration has proposed a new tax on remittances. African nations would be among the hardest hit. The bill's passage would be the latest sign of a US retreat from Africa, coming on the heels of the stripping of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the introduction of steep tariffs after decades of preferential trade agreements on the continent, observes the New York Times.

PayPal Mafia and Trump's Africa Policy

The "PayPal mafia" of libertarian billionaires with roots in South Africa under white rule are now hugely influential in the US tech industry and politics, observes the Guardian. They include Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and Roelof Botha.