The U.S. gave it more than $6.5 billion in humanitarian assistance last year for wide-ranging projects like disease response, girls’ education and free school lunches.

Many Africans were aware that Trump's "America First" policy suggested their continent would be low on his list of priorities. However, they did not anticipate the sudden suspension of foreign aid from the largest donor in the world,

Trump’s comments waded into a sensitive racial issue and deepened already sharp divisions between the United States and South Africa.