As Americans get ready to vote in the upcoming elections on November 5, the race to the White House has become tighter, with former President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris hitting the American South over the weekend to deliver their closing statements to voters.
Trump campaigned in North Carolina while Harris addressed supporters in Georgia and North Carolina. The two have been on a tour of swing states hoping to sway undecided voters.
New state polling on Saturday showed a close race in “blue wall” states, with Harris leading in Michigan and Wisconsin and a tie in Pennsylvania. CNN indicated over the weekend that the candidates remain deadlocked nationwide.
Whoever Americans choose as their next president will have global implications, affecting economies, trade, security, and human rights.
“An American presidency has huge implications for global peace, security, and international development,” Professor Etse Sikanku, an Associate Professor of Journalism and Communication at Ghana’s University of Media, Arts, and Communication, told News Central TV.
With the U.S. supporting Africa over the years, a Harris victory would ensure a “more empathetic and cooperative approach” towards Africa with deep respect for human rights and women’s empowerment thanks to her background and appreciation of African communal values, Sikanku said.
“A Harris administration is likely to pursue more trade in Africa and encourage more American businesses to invest, especially to counter China’s influence,” he explained.
Indeed, it is the hope of many African governments that the U.S. will renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which was introduced during Clinton’s tenure and gives countries duty-free access to the U.S. market. While Harris is expected to continue with AGOA, analysts doubt Trump would do so.
“I think that a Trump presidency would reinforce America’s isolationist approach in international affairs, and that might not be good for trade,” Ray Hartley, research director of South African Brenthurst Foundation think tank, told VOA.
Sikanku also stressed that policies such as stricter immigration, lesser trade with Africa, and less respect for the continent will dominate Trump’s administration.
But other analysts don’t think there would be any radical change in U.S. policy toward Africa irrespective of who wins. With Russia and China making inroads on the continent in terms of trade and infrastructure, the United States would be bent on competing with those two powers in Africa.
Last March, Harris visited the West African country of Ghana to “build on” December’s U.S.-Africa summit in Washington where President Joe Biden said the U.S. was “all in on Africa’s future”.
“Insofar as the United States is intent on competing with those powers in Africa, keeping its old alliances and building new ones, I don’t think one administration is likely to differ much from another, strictly in terms of their Africa policy,” Ebenezer Obadare, senior fellow for Africa studies at U.S. research organization Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA.
Still, South African independent political analyst Asanda Ngoasheng said she hopes that “as Americans vote, they’re aware that whatever decision they make, it’s going to determine the future of not only America but the rest of the world.”
“How we engage with issues of termination of pregnancy, how we engage with issues of LGBT rights, how we engage with issues of race and racism will be determined by this election, not just for America but for everyone else and everywhere else in the world,” Ngoasheng continued.
In 2019, the Trump administration expanded its ban on funding for groups that conduct abortions or advocate abortion rights, known as the global gag rule.
This was in spite of the fact that the United States had been the largest funder of global reproductive health programs. Observers believe that a Trump victory would continue with the funding ban aimed at abortion providers, disrupting abortion rights in the U.S.
All in all, a Trump or Harris victory could hold symbolic significance beyond policy.
While a Trump win might encourage authoritarianism thanks to his utterances, Harris could be seen as offering inspiration, especially for African and Black women in general.
“They will look at Harris and know they can achieve anything they put their mind to,” said Sikanku.
