Africa hopes Trump will be put in check after the midterm polls

US President Donald Trump dances after speaking at a midterm campaign rally at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida on October 30, 2026. [AFP]

That the Democratic Party would perform well in the US midterm elections was never in doubt. But the “blue tsunami” or, as some have called it, the “DEI wave”, where the Democrats, a significant number of electees being women and persons of colour, have resoundingly taken both Houses of Congress, came as a shocker.

In African capitals there is a mixture of relief and cautious expectation. The hope is not that Washington will suddenly unveil a bold new Africa strategy, but that the worst instincts of the Trump administration’s “America First” approach will now face a meaningful check. The reality, analysts warn, is likely to be a shift in temperature far more than a transformation in policy. The most immediate practical consequence lies in trade.