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President Donald Trump continues to take bold steps, reclaiming American exceptionalism at home and his leadership abroad.
These important noises are all too often drowned out by a ceaseless noise in Washington, where the media are obsessed with many questions about this president, with the exception of the most important ones for his work – his performance that drives the country to the world. ;Excellency.
A good example is the outstanding new initiative announced by National Security Advisor John Bolton, which sets a new strategy for Africa.
This initiative echoes the vision of foreign policy outlined by Donald Trump in his inaugural address.
That is, America's relations with the nations of the world should be defined first and foremost by our national interests. "We are not trying to impose our way of life on anyone," he said, "but rather to let it shine as an example to follow for everyone."
The Africa Initiative has three components: developing and building new commercial and trade links; contain radical Islamic terrorism and violent conflict; and ensuring that US dollars help are used effectively.
Among the concerns of the administration are the aggressive movements of Russia and China in Africa, whose approach is very different from ours.
Corruption regimes are a huge problem in Africa. Russia and China view corruption as an opportunity for commercial gain by buying out regimes and increasing debt dependence through loans.
For example, China, according to Bolton, is about to take control of the Zambian electricity and utilities company to cover billions of dollars in debt.
The corruption perception index published annually by Transparency International is the most widely known public measure of corruption.
Countries are ranked from 1 to 100, 100 being without corruption – which, unfortunately, is non-existent. The average score is 43. The US score is 75. The average score in Africa is 32.
The scores for China are 41 and those for Russia are 29. It is clear that neither is motivated to pursue Africa's development by eliminating corruption. Rather the opposite.
However, the disinfectant is not just the morally right thing to intervene in African politics; it's also the right thing to do economically.
Many research and experiences demonstrate the most powerful opportunities for economic development and prosperity – economic freedom.
Economic freedom means limiting the size and scope of government, maintaining a system of reliable laws and tribunals protecting property and contracts, keeping regulations to the minimum necessary, allowing citizens to trade freely abroad and maintain stability of the national currency.
Average per capita income in countries with 25% total economic freedom is $ 40,376. The average income in the bottom 25% is $ 5,649.
According to the World Bank, average income per capita in the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa was $ 1,464 in 2016.
It is no coincidence that the most economically free African countries also have the highest per capita incomes, such as Botswana ($ 7,596) and Seychelles ($ 15,505). According to the results of Transparency International, these countries are also among the least corrupt in Africa. It goes without saying that corruption is minimized when citizens have more freedom to do their own business and politicians have less power to ingest.
However, most African countries are sorely lacking economic freedom, which explains corruption and low incomes.
The Trump administration is on the right track to advance American and African interests by "inducing countries to become self-reliant and to move away from long-term dependency".
As is usually the case with social badistance, foreign aid is notoriously inefficient and counterproductive, undermining autonomy and promoting dependency.
US aid to Africa in 2017 was $ 8.7 billion.
The new strategy for Africa, taking into account American ideals, will effectively use the funds of our taxpayers and highlight the great unrealized potential of the African continent.
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