| Welcome to Next Africa, a twice-weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed. Sign up here to have it delivered to your email. Cyril Ramaphosa downplayed the ambush Donald Trump laid for him at their explosive talks in the Oval Office this week. The South African president got to speak directly with Trump after his very public dressing down over what the US leader falsely claimed was a genocide against White farmers, and set out his case for a reset of relations between their two nations. His handling of Wednesday’s meeting sparked a rare moment of unity back home.  A reflection of Elon Musk during the White House meeting, with South African golfers Retief Goosen and Ernie Els in the foreground. Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA Markets took the showdown on the chin and most analysts, and media, lauded Ramaphosa’s even temperament under the circumstances. Now that the rebuke is done, Pretoria is shifting to more substantive matters — following the Keir Starmer blueprint that saw the UK secure a quick framework for a trade pact with Washington. Away from the spectacle, the South African delegation made offers to the US and is pushing areas of mutual interest to ease tensions with its second-largest trading partner. Ramaphosa will want engagements to now focus on critical minerals, LNG imports and tariff concessions. While officials pointed to progress in the talks, there were other positives for Ramaphosa from the White House meeting.  WATCH: Trump rejects Ramaphosa’s argument that there’s no genocide against White Afrikaners. Trump didn’t rule out attending the G-20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg later this year — indicating he may not follow through on an earlier threat to stay away. He also brushed off suggestions he’s unhappy with South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, saying the process should be allowed to play out. Both can be seen as small victories for the South African leader. They may meet again at the G-7 gathering in Canada, where Ramaphosa will look for clues on whether relations with the world’s biggest economy have indeed moved on from this week’s show trial. — S’thembile Cele Key stories and opinion:
Trump Stages Another Oval Office Ambush, Lecturing Ramaphosa
Trump’s Ambush of Ramaphosa Leaves South Africa Reeling
Fringe White Afrikaners Show How Lobbying Trump Can Work
Trump’s Genocide Claim Rakes Up South Africa’s Apartheid Past
Why South Africa’s Land Law Is at Heart of Trump Row: QuickTake In less than two decades, China has embedded itself throughout the resources business in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s copper belt, from the roadside artisanal-metal dealers to wholesalers and multinationals like Shanghai-headquartered CMOC, the world’s biggest cobalt producer. But the African country’s politicians are now looking for new friends and have turned to an unlikely ally: Trump.  A worker at a Chinese-run cobalt depot in Musompo, Congo. Photographer: Arlette Bashizi/Bloomberg South Africa’s finance minister calmed a months-long political crisis that had threatened the stability of the nation’s ruling coalition, presenting a fiscally careful budget that won support from lawmakers and investors. Enoch Godongwana cut spending, forecast slower growth and showed debt peaking at a higher level in his third stab at the proposals. Separately, the Treasury will offer a $2.8 billion guarantee facility to struggling state ports and rail operator Transnet. The UK agreed to a deal to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The pact will see the UK pay an annual fee to use a key strategic military base on the Indian Ocean archipelago. The agreement ends the uncertainty over the future of the Diego Garcia base, a strategically valuable British-US facility that gives rapid access to East Africa, the Indo-Pacific, the South China Sea and the Persian Gulf. Here’s a guide to the deal.  The Chagos Islands. Photographer: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group The Trump administration maintains that it’s interested in Africa — specifically in mineral supplies — and talks of bespoke deals with both Congo and Rwanda even as the Lobito project in Angola forges ahead. But many of its actions have set back those aims and harmed its ambition of weakening China’s status as partner of choice for the continent. If history is anything to go by, Trump is unlikely to turn the relationship around — in his first term, he had the least interaction with African leaders of any of the past 12 US presidents. Nigeria’s top opposition leaders agreed to unite before the next election, seeking to repair rifts that handed President Bola Tinubu victory two years ago. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party, the Labour Party’s Peter Obi and Nasir El-Rufai of the Social Democratic Party pledged to join forces under the African Democratic Congress banner in the 2027 ballot, after months of talks. Meanwhile, the ruling All Progressives Congress party endorsed Tinubu as its candidate.  Tinubu in Paris in November. Photographer: Sarah Meyssonnier/AFP/Getty Images A US federal judge said the Trump administration violated his earlier order by sending eight migrants convicted of crimes to South Sudan, and directed immediate action to protect their right to oppose deportation to a country gripped by years of violence. The Boston-based judge ruled in April that the government couldn’t deport migrants to a so-called “third country” — a place that wasn’t their home nation or an alternative ordered by an immigration judge — without notice and having an opportunity to object. Next Africa Quiz — Which top university, which boasts many global leaders as graduates, including Botswana’s Duma Boko, was blocked by its government from enrolling foreign students? Send your answers to gbell16@bloomberg.net.  On this week’s podcast, Jennifer Zabasajja brings you the best of the discussions at the Qatar Economic Forum, an event powered by Bloomberg. Data Watch - Nigeria’s central bank left its policy rate unchanged, at 27.5%, as it awaits more data on inflation outlook and for trade-war turbulence to settle. Angola and Zambia also kept their benchmark rates unchanged, at 19.5% and 14.5% respectively.
- Zambia’s corn harvest will surge to a record high from a 16-year-low last year.
- Morocco plans to double power generation by 2030, when it co-hosts the FIFA World Cup.
Coming Up - May 26 African Development Bank annual meetings start in Abidjan
- May 27 South Africa central bank leading economic indicator
- May 28 Mozambique interest-rate decision
- May 29 South Africa interest-rate decision & producer-inflation data for April, Zambia inflation for May & trade balance for April
- May 30 May inflation data for Kenya and Uganda, South Africa money supply, trade & budget data for April, Morocco money supply for April, Eswatini interest-rate decision
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