What will be the impact of the World Cup on the Trump administration? Understand
The 2026 World Cup, held in the United States, Mexico and Canada, comes at a politically ambiguous time for American President Donald Trump.
The tournament, which began last Thursday (11), has highlighted both the economic difficulties faced by the Americans and the government's diplomatic tensions with African countries.
While participating in the Fora da Ordem videocast, CNN Brasil's international analyst, Lourival Sant'Anna, assessed that the sporting event ends up functioning as a mirror of the contradictions of the current political and economic moment in the United States.
Economic difficulties in evidence
What has the most internal repercussions, according to Lourival, are the financial difficulties of the American population in following the tournament.
"Tickets have increased in price and hotels are not as busy as expected," said the analyst.
He highlighted that the World Cup ends up highlighting the economic problems that Americans face, related to the high cost of living and the energy shock caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Case of the Somali referee
Another point of negative repercussion for the American government was the ban on Somali referee Omar Artan from entering the United States.
Celebrated throughout Africa after being selected for the World Cup refereeing team, Omar was detained for around 11 hours by American authorities, who claimed to have found evidence of his connection to Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda in Somalia. The referee denied any link with the group and declared that he did not know anyone linked to it.
Upon returning to Somalia, where he was received by the country's president, Omar made statements considered "very soft", without directly criticizing the United States.
"He is 34 years old and said he hopes to have the opportunity to one day be a referee in another World Cup," said Lourival.
The analyst highlighted that similar cases of entry denial also affected Iraqis, Iranians and other professionals from African countries.
Wear with the African continent
For Lourival, the episode rekindles old wounds between Africans and Trump.
The analyst cited previous statements by the American president in which he would have used derogatory terms to refer to the African continent and the Somali community in the United States, in addition to asking minority congresswomen - such as Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Presley - to "go back to their countries", generating the slogan "send them back" from his first term.
According to the analyst, all these tensions favor China, which already has enormous projection on the African continent.
"The wounds are reopening and this favors China, the projection and the dispute for influence that it has in Africa with the United States and with the West, with Europe in general", he concluded.
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Source: CNN