The United States’ decision to cut aid to Africa will have a “variant impact” on the continent’s economies, a Brazilian economist said Monday.

The Atlantic Council’s Africa Center held a discussion on the US and Africa’s economic relations, where former Senegalese President Macky Sall also delivered prerecorded remarks.

The discussion, moderated by Otaviano Canuto, a Brazilian economist and senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), centered on the changing economic ties between the US and Africa, emphasizing both the challenges and opportunities.

“The decision to stop the USAID disbursements will have a variant impact on African economies,” Canuto said.

Aubrey Hruby, a senior advisor and senior fellow at the Africa Center, stressed that the US was not being “very…credible in the moment of preaching the democracy or governance story in African markets.”

The US is going through its own “challenges in governance,” Hruby noted.

The guests highlighted key issues such as the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2025, the decline in official development assistance from developed nations, and the continued importance of the AGOA.

The conversation focused on the US investment approach, notably through the United States International Development Finance Corporation and EXIM Bank, alongside the need for enhanced governance and anti-corruption measures in African countries to boost investment and support sustainable growth.

The Trump administration, following suggestions from US tech billionaire Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), initiated the shutdown of USAID’s operations domestically and internationally.

The move has led to widespread disruptions in global aid programs, affecting non-governmental organizations and media organizations that rely on the agency's funding.

USAID was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. Later, Congress established USAID as an independent agency, meaning that an act of Congress would be required to eliminate it.