| Welcome to Next Africa, a twice-weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. Recent events in Washington have raised hope that the African Growth and Opportunity Act — which offers preferential access to the US market — isn’t dead. “I’m actually a big fan of AGOA,” Troy Fitrell, a senior official in the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs, told a congressional committee. The US needs to counter the growth of Chinese business and influence in Africa, he added.  A worker picks a grapefruit in an orchard near Hoedspruit, South Africa. The country is the biggest exporter of citrus after Spain. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg Its trade agency last week asked for comment on which African nations should gain, lose or retain duty-free access. That’s an annual exercise dating back to the early 2000s, when the US first offered the continent special treatment in the world’s biggest economy. This time is different, though. Most observers have concluded that President Donald Trump’s trade war, and the wave of duties he announced in early April, superseded the pact — an interpretation Washington has confirmed. Since then, the White House suspended most of the new levies to give nations time to strike bilateral arrangements. As things stand, AGOA is set to expire in September. If comments by Trump allies are anything to go by, prospects for renewal in its current form don’t look good. The president’s top trade adviser, Jamieson Greer, in February labeled the existing program a “giveaway” and last month, the chair of the US’s House Ways and Means subcommittee on trade, Republican Adrian Smith, said he doesn’t expect the status quo to continue.  Trump holds a chart showing planned reciprocal tariffs in Washington on April 2. Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images While it’s up to Congress to decide on whether — or in what form — it survives, the process comes at a time when the US is balking at lopsided trade pacts (which AGOA is), while also seeking sources of critical minerals (which African countries have). Add the complication that the US hasn’t negotiated a formal comprehensive bilateral trade pact with any country in years, and that the mandate giving the president power to hammer out such deals — known as Trade Promotion Authority — expired in 2021, and things look even murkier. For now, it would probably be best for African fans of the deal to curb their enthusiasm. — Ana Monteiro and Alexander Parker Key stories and opinion:
Trump Tariffs to Supersede US Congress-Backed Africa Trade Pact
South Africa Said to Prefer Bilateral US Trade Deal Over AGOA
China-US Tariff Truce Prompts Some Nations to Shift Tactics
US-Africa Trade Law Renewal as Is Would Be Lost Chance
What Is Trump’s Tariff Campaign Meant to Achieve?: QuickTake
Trump Can Rewrite America's Narrative in Africa: Justice Malala  On this week’s episode of the award-winning Next Africa podcast, Tiwa Adebayo talks with Bloomberg reporters Olatomiwa Tobi and Nduka Orjinmo about the business of sport on the continent and beyond. In memoriam: Edgar Lungu, the former Zambian president who clashed with investors in the key mining industry and was considering running for office again, has died. He was 68. Ivory Coast’s electoral commission excluded former Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam from the voters’ roll, effectively ending his bid to run for president in October. The exclusion wasn’t unexpected, after an Ivorian court in April ordered Thiam’s removal, although his party has appealed that ruling and said Thiam has asked the United Nations Human Rights Committee to step in on his behalf.  Democratic Party of Ivory Coast supporters attend a rally for Thiam in the capital, Abidjan. Photographer: Issouf Sanogo/Getty Images The World Bank agreed to restart lending to Uganda almost two years after it suspended new loans to the East African country because of a harsh anti-LGBTQ law. The lender has prepared new projects to support social protection, education and those affected by forced displacement, and will present them to its board to decide if they should be funded. Measures to prevent discrimination have been embedded in all the proposals, it said. Trump has banned individuals from 12 countries from entering the US, more than half of them from Africa — reinstating one of the most controversial measures from his first term. The proclamation also partially limits entry of people from another seven nations. The move follows an attack at an event held in support of Israeli hostages by an Egyptian national who had overstayed his visa. Here’s what we know about the ban and the African Union’s response. Chinese entrepreneurs have found ways to thrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo, often relying on their own networks and relationships to solve problems. They have established a range of businesses, from supermarkets to medical clinics, that cater to the Chinese community. The result is a form of frontier capitalism peopled by hustlers that forms a vast political and commercial ecosystem in the central African country. The World Bank is committing $1 billion to help Congo develop the next stage of what could be the world’s biggest hydropower project. It will initially commit $250 million toward Inga III, a portion of the Grand Inga complex. The project forms part of the so-called Mission 300 program that aims to bring electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030 and could attract about $85 billion in private investment. If completed, Inga could generate 11,000 megawatts of power — more than triple Congo’s current capacity.  WATCH: Ondiro Oganga reports on plans to develop the Inga project on Bloomberg TV. Turkey will supply Somalia’s navy with T129 Atak helicopters after the nations signed a defense pact, sources say. The craft will be used to fight the al-Qaeda-backed al-Shabaab terror group. Turkey signed a 10-year agreement in February to train and equip Somalia’s defense forces. It subsequently inked a hydrocarbon exploration and production agreement that will enable Turkish Petroleum to operate in the Horn of Africa nation. Watch our mini-documentary on how India and China are vying for control of strategic islands and chokepoints in the Indian Ocean, from Seychelles to Mauritius. With shifting US policy, the battle for influence is intensifying, shaping regional and global power. Next Africa Quiz — Which African country’s economy would have been almost 40% bigger if it had tracked growth in its peers since 2010, according to a private-sector study? Send your answers to gbell16@bloomberg.net. Data Watch - South Africa’s 10-year government bond yield this week dropped below 10% for the first time in more than three years. The nation’s current-account deficit narrowed slightly in the first quarter, beating expectations for it to widen, while a lawmaker committee agreed to a fiscal framework that underpins the budget.
- Zimbabwe laid out plans to raise more than $9 billion to boost energy access at a conference in London on Wednesday.
- Africa is set to record more mpox cases this year than it did in 2024, when an explosion of the virus prompted the declaration of an international health emergency. More than 64,000 cases were reported in the five months through May.
- Where does a giant refinery in Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer, go to source the raw materials? Try crude fields in West Texas, about 6,500 miles away.
Coming Up - June 9 Tanzania inflation for May
- June 10 Kenya interest-rate decision, South Africa manufacturing data for April, Rwanda inflation for May
- June 12 South Africa mining-production data for April, Kenya budget announcement
- June 13 Bloomberg’s monthly South Africa economic survey, May inflation data for Botswana and Cape Verde
The 10th edition of the Africa Business Media Innovators will take place in Livingstone on June 8-10. If you are in the Zambian city and are keen to attend, please message gbell16@bloomberg.net. | 
