The administration is trying to signal that African countries can look to the U.S. instead of China, which is facing its own backlash in the continent.
In April, President Donald Trump launched a flurry of phone calls to African leaders, promising to send ventilators to help as the coronavirus continued its march across the globe. The outreach came on the heels of a fresh pledge from the State Department to send millions of dollars to several African countries to help combat the pandemic. And earlier this month, the Trump administration said it would donated up to 1,000 ventilators to South Africa, which has the highest number of coronavirus cases on the continent.
Trump's decision to defund the World Health Organization could be so devastating to Africa that even the Pentagon is concerned, per AFRICOM meeting readout leaked to me:https://t.co/Lvy7VxDn1D pic.twitter.com/ybJjvoHfv0
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) May 27, 2020
#Coronavirus latest:
-Cases top 5.4 million; deaths over 345,000 globally
-South Korea nightclub-linked cases rise to 233
-Trump says schools should open ‘ASAP'
-China reports 11 cases, all from abroad
-India’s Maharashtra to start domestic flightshttps://t.co/HuoFmcEjTI— Bloomberg (@business) May 25, 2020