US President Biden Revives Trump's Africa Business Initiative

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The Biden administration on Tuesday announced a new push to expand business ties between U.S. companies and Africa, with a focus on clean energy, health, agribusiness and transportation infrastructure on the continent.

U.S. industry executives welcomed the interest but said dollar flows will lag until the administration wraps up its lengthy review of Trump administration trade measures and sets a clear policy on investments in liquefied natural gas.

Dana Banks, senior director for Africa at the White House National Security Council, told a conference the administration planned to "re-imagine" and revive Prosper Africa, an initiative launched by former President Donald Trump in 2018, as the "centerpiece of U.S. economic and commercial engagement with Africa."

Travis Adkins, deputy assistant administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), added: "We're looking at the ways in which we [can] foster two-way trade, looking at mutually beneficial partnerships that work together to mobilize investment, create jobs, and ... shared opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic."

President Joe Biden, who requested nearly $80 million for the initiative in his budget proposal in May, aims to focus it on women and equity, with an expanded role for small- and medium-sized businesses, Banks said.

The administration's goal was to "reinvigorate Prosper Africa as the centerpiece of U.S. economic and commercial engagement with Africa," she said.

"This is an area that is a priority both at home and abroad," Banks told Reuters ahead of the conference, adding that African countries were eager to expand their cooperation with the United States.