Trump's tariff’s impact on Africa and the ambiguous role of African agency

The international discussion of Trump's dispute over import tariffs for steel, aluminum and even cars are so far focused on the big global players. However, smaller African countries in particular suffer too from the planned punitive tariffs, similar to the famous African proverb, "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers". After years of talk on partnership for economic development (AGOA, Cotonou Agreement, EPAs, etc) Trump’s tariffs mean a severe blow to participatory foreign trade and sustainable industrialization in Africa. Egypt and South Africa for example, the potentially most affected African countries, face massive job losses and earning opportunities, with all the consequences that this entails for their already fragile economy and the population in dire poverty. Trump’s intervention thus joins the continued power politics of former colonial powers vis à vis Africa. Nevertheless, despite these asymmetric power relations, unfair trade relations and the desolate state of African infant industries are not necessarily due to externalities but often home-made. African agency plays an ambiguous role in enhancing participatory trade and indigenous industrialization.