As the United States and other economic powers reduce their investment, aid and presence in Africa, the United Arab Emirates is wielding its wealth.
Look at the chief economic and strategic spots across Africa — ports for key trade corridors, mines that produce critical minerals, large renewable energy projects — and you will find the United Arab Emirates.
As the United States and, to a lesser extent, China reduce their investment, aid and presence on the African continent, the Emirates is using its enormous wealth and influence to fill the void.
Persian Gulf investments in Africa, primarily by the Emirates, have exploded in recent years. Since 2019, $110 billion worth of deals — mostly by firms tightly aligned with the ruling powers — have been announced, dwarfing amounts pledged by any other country.
“The U.A.E. is turning into a dominant foreign player” in much of Africa, said Anna Jacobs, a nonresident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
Its efforts to become a world leader, particularly in finance and technology, are likely to be bolstered under President Trump, Ms. Jacobs said. The president, seeking to draw Emirati money to the United States, paved the way this week for the sale of American advanced artificial intelligence chips to the Emirates.
The Emirates’ wide-ranging investments and efforts to become a world leader in A.I. are part of an ambitious plan to increase the country’s influence, particularly over global supply chains.