Our daily expedition around the world

🌍 The US plans to invest $55 billion in Africa over the next three years, President Biden said yesterday. The announcement came at the US-Africa Leaders Summit in D.C., where Biden expressed support for a free trade zone in Africa and vowed to provide resources to help enable the continent’s transition to clean energy. While US officials didn’t explicitly mention China by name this week, many analysts said the event was aimed at counteracting Beijing’s growing influence in Africa.

🇪🇺 The EU officially confirmed its adoption of a 15% global minimum tax on large companies yesterday. The move, set to take effect in 2024, was previously approved by the EU, US, and 100+ other countries in October 2021. However, the Biden administration later failed in its attempt to get the plan through Congress, and the legislation’s prospects look even dimmer next year with Republicans taking back control of the House.

🇺🇦 Russia warned of “unpredictable consequences” if the US ends up sending Patriot missiles to Ukraine. Earlier this week, multiple sources reported the US government is finalizing plans to send defensive Patriot missile batteries, which would represent the most advanced weaponry America has given to Ukraine since the war began, per the WSJ. Patriot missile systems take as many as 90 soldiers to run and require months of training to use, and the US military is reportedly planning to begin training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany by next month.