US Unfurls Commercial Diplomacy at West Africa AmCham Business Summit in Abidjan

West Africa AmCham Business Summit 2025

AmCham Cote d’Ivoire and US-Africa Business Center co-organized the West Africa AmCham Business Summit in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, from 12 to 14 May 2025. #AmCham members from Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Mali and Guinea as well as other business leaders in West Africa attended the event which explored a ‘New Paradigm for US Business Partnerships with Africa.’

Cote d’Ivoire Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Souleymane Diarrassouba and Ghana Minister Natural Resources Emmanuel Buah were among the keynote speakers. Troy Fitrell from the Bureau of African Affairs at the US Department of States led the US delegation accompanied by of US ambassadors in the region. Also present were representatives of US businesses such as Cargill, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Citi, Wave Mobile Money, Cybastion, Aerostar Dynamics, to name a few.

Commercial Diplomacy Strategy

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Troy Fitrell emphasized that the US foreign policy can be summarized by the slogan “Trade, Not Aid.” As a matter of fact, President Trump has closed down #USAID as part of the new strategy focused on Commercial Diplomacy. Put another way, the new approach will be investment-driven and based on ‘a partnership of equals‘, instead of ‘a donor-recipient relationship.’

In the future, the State Department will assess the performance of US ambassadors mainly on how adept they are at ‘the art of the deal‘. It is worth recalling that in February 2025, President Trump even suspended the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to further American economic and security interests overseas.

Six-Point Action Plan

As part of the new paradigm of the US for Africa, Ambassador Fitrell outlined a six-point action plan as follows:

• Foster a conducive environment for business
• Encourage transformative infrastructure development which are viable
• Provide access to the US capital market for African ventures
• Facilitate access to US market for African products
• Conduct more trade and investment missions to Africa
• Strengthen partnerships with private sector

Deluge of Deals

During her keynote address, US Ambassador in Cote d’Ivoire Jessica Ba announced USD 550 million of deals sealed and more than USD 6.8 billion of deals currently in the pipeline. Within 100 days since Trump took office, 33 deals have been sealed between the US and Africa worth over USD 6 billion. To better monitor the progress of its new diplomatic drive, the US is in the process of compiling a compendium of deals in Africa which will be kept updated.

Lobito Corridor

One of the flagship projects under the US-Africa Partnership is the #LobitoCorridor. It will provide a win-win situation to US and African countries along the corridor. On the one hand, US is securing access to #CriticalMinerals, while on the other hand, Africa is receiving #FDI for infrastructure development and socio-economic advancement.

AGOA

Ambassador Fitrell underscored that reciprocity would be the new name of the game in the economic relations between US and Africa. The #AGOA is a law passed by Congress and its reauthorization is expected shortly before its expiry in September 2025, albeit in a updated format. The US thus welcomes African states to engage with the Trump administration to negotiate a better trade deal.

AfCFTA

By 2050, the population of Africa will grow to 2.5 billion persons, accounting for one quarter of the world’s population inside one of the world’s largest free trade areas, known as #AfCFTA. The purchasing power of Africa is projected to surpass USD 16 trillion, rivaling the US current three largest trade partners: Canada, China and Mexico.

US-Africa Leaders Summit 2025

In support for the US-Africa Partnership push, President Trump plans to host another US-Africa Leaders Summit (#UALS) before the end of 2025. The shuttering of certain programs and US diplomatic missions in Africa is aimed at improving government efficiency, and does not mean that the US is walking away from Africa.

On the contrary, the series of US-Africa missions and events in the runup to the upcoming US-Africa Business Summit (#UABS) set for June 2025 in Angola is a testament to the continued commitment of the US to the emerging continent.