US election 2020 preview

With the US election entering squeaky bum time Michael Avery unpacks the foreign policy stakes for South Africa and Africa. The African Growth and Opportunity Act is up for renegotiating in 2025 and one would want the winner to start new talks yesterday, especially considering the African continental free trade complicates things. To think we began 2020 supposing the US presidential election would be the foremost news event of year. How quickly Covid 19 changed all that. Despite some predicting a blue wave a month ago, the U.S. election has tightened further over the last week, making it harder to call. Opinion polls in the most competitive states that will decide the election have shown a closer race, still favouring Biden slightly though. Avery speaks to John Stremlau Honorary Professor International relations Wits; Brooks Spector retired US diplomat in Africa and East Asia; & Warwick Lucas, Chief Investment Officer at Galileo Capital. It’s worth recalling Hitchens here that “The only people truly bound by political promises are the voters who believe them.”