Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.

The highlights this week: U.S. President Donald Trump’s Africa policy is a boon to China and Iran, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa wins praise after his trip to Washington, and the United States announces plans to impose sanctions on Sudan.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s Africa Brief.

The highlights this week: U.S. President Donald Trump’s Africa policy is a boon to China and Iran, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa wins praise after his trip to Washington, and the United States announces plans to impose sanctions on Sudan.

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s ambush of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House last week has cemented the consensus among many African leaders that Washington has written itself out of the continent’s future.

The meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa followed months of U.S. foreign policy that has deprioritized Africa—a continent that will soon make up the world’s largest workforce and, by 2050, account for a quarter of the people on the planet.

For instance, the Trump administration’s decision to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development has threatened starvation in Sudan and a rollback of gains in HIV/AIDS treatment in South Africa. Washington has also proposed plans to cut $555 million in funding to the continent’s main infrastructure lender, the African Development Bank.

As the United States steps back, Washington’s adversaries are looking to expand their political and economic influence on the continent.

Iranian officials have stepped up efforts to secure deals off the back of the third Iran-Africa Economic Cooperation Conference, held in Tehran in late April. More than 50 senior officials from 29 African nations attended the summit, according to Iranian state media.

At the conference, Mohammad Atabak—Iran’s minister of industry, mines, and trade—said that Tehran intends to increase its annual trade with Africa from $1.2 billion to $10 billion. This includes plans to establish new shipping and air routes to the continent, set up a joint Iran-Africa development fund, and allocate a $2 billion credit line for buying goods from Africa.

Iran sees potential in agriculture cooperation with African countries. Although no deal between Iran and Kenya was announced, Nairobi, which sent a high-level delegation to Tehran to attend the summit, has been pushing to increase its exports of tea, coffee, and other goods to Iran in exchange for opening its markets to Iranian oil.

Kenya is one of the countries........

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