Zusammenfassung:
Ever since their independence, African countries have engaged in a series of treaties creating 8 Regional Economic Communities (RECs) that were (and still are) to pilot this integration starting with a Free Trade Area (FTA) followed by a customs union, a common market, and a monetary union following a 'variable geometry', along a 'Minimum Integration Program' at different speeds. This introductory chapter summarizes takeaways from the essays collected in the booklet Essays on Africa's Integration: Prospects and Challenges for Markets and Regional Public Goods.One of the first executive orders signed by President Trump in his second term suspended the operations of the US Agency for International Development, USAID, for 90 days. On 23 February 2025, the US government placed almost all USAID staff on administrative leave, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was appointed administrator of the agency on 3 February, announced on 10 March that 83% of the programmes managed by the Agency would be scrapped and the vast majority of staff would be laid off. The remaining programmes will be managed directly by the State Department.