The Belt and Road Initiative and Emerging US-China Rivalries in Africa: The Case of the Lobito Corridor

Abstract

Within a geopolitical landscape often framed as a nascent cold war between the United States and China, China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is increasingly pivoting towards the Global South, especially Africa and Latin America. This shift comes amid an increase in new competitive infrastructural initiatives, such as the US-led G7 coalition's Partnership for Global Investments and Infrastructures. This article explores the transformations of the BRI and what was its nascent rival under Biden administration, with a particular focus on the Lobito Corridor, which Trump seems to be supporting too for mineral access. It examines the motivations and strategies of the United States, China, and beneficiary nations, and how dynamics between them may unfold. The study finds that the Lobito Corridor exemplifies how the United States was re-entering African infrastructure markets, challenging China's dominance by targeting critical supply chains. The conclusion posits that this corridor signaled a strategic shift in global infrastructure competition, with the United States leveraging it to reassert influence in Africa, potentially recalibrating China's dominance in critical mineral supply chains.