What Nigeria should do with Trump Presidency – Amb Keshi
Daily Trust: How do you see Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election? Amb Joe Keshi: No matter what anybody will say, Trump’s victory has surprised many of us that he emerged the President-elect of United States. You can actually see this from his face and that of his supporters that they […]
Daily Trust: How do you see Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton in the US presidential election?
Amb Joe Keshi: No matter what anybody will say, Trump’s victory has surprised many of us that he emerged the President-elect of United States. You can actually see this from his face and that of his supporters that they won.
DT: Who do you think would have benefitted Nigeria, Africa and the world the most?
Keshi: We would have been better off with the Democratic candidate (Clinton). One, she has a global view that is wide and extensive as against Trump who has very limited knowledge of the world and cares only about maintaining American ‘exceptionalism.’ Secondly, much as we have questions about American foreign policy and Africa, as Secretary of State she not only visited 11 African states, including Nigeria, she demonstrated good understanding of the challenges facing us and the continent. This is unlike Trump who is not prepared to defend American traditional allies. If he is prepared to dump Europe, abandon Germany, Korea, and Japan, you can be sure we, Africa and Nigeria, are not on his agenda. In any case, he has a very low opinion of us as he has of other races.
DT: How do you think Nigeria as a country can relate with the Trump Presidency, especially on foreign policy?
Keshi: We (Nigeria) have always maintained cordial relations with the United States even though I feel the US has not treated us well in comparison to other strategic partners. The blame is not all that of US and this is why I hope our foreign policy planners would really study the situation before rushing to Washington for photo ups. We need to properly engage the US under the next dispensation from our national interest perspective. While the US can be helpful, we need to do our own work. Until we know the policy of the new administration, we should keep our cool and prepare ourselves.
DT: Many are taking him on his campaign rhetoric, especially on immigration that he would remove all undocumented immigrants and build a wall, will he do that and how?
Keshi: Firstly, he cannot build a wall for two main reasons. One, the cost estimate of such a wall is so huge and enormous and he has not told anyone where the money would come from. We all know that Mexico will not pay for any wall to start with, so that first promise may be modified. I remember a cartoon after one of our elections many years ago that ‘the elections are over; you can change your promise.’ I expect the new administration settles in January and we are going to look at all the promise made, there are some that I believe he can deal with and would have consequences like the Obamacare for example. What does he replace it with immediately bearing in mind that about 20 million Americans have health insurance which they did not have before. So what will he do with the 20 million people out of the medical system? I think there would be serious thinking on some of the policy issues that he said during the campaigns.
DT: What do you think of his stance on trade that he would close American borders and not work with the EU and others, what do you think he would do?
Keshi: Don’t forget that Donald Trump is a businessman who has made lots of money from trading round the world. Some of his goods that he sells in United States are made in China and elsewhere. We just have to wait to a see if he will bring back his own business to the United States. I think he would look at NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreement) for example and begin to look at areas he is comfortable with and see areas he can change.
But we have some realities we must all face that the world Trump was talking about during the campaign. The world with which those who voted for him particularly those from rural America who felt and are still feeling that the economy has failed and they were left behind no longer exist. Technology has taken over a number of things. Globalisation has changed our world and these are some of the things he has to confront. Businesses started moving out of United States because of high cost of labour and these are some of the things he has to find ways of addressing.