In crafting a new international economic policy that works for Americans and advances U.S. interests, policymakers will have to weigh multiple trade-offs.

Released last month, the 2021 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) confirmed what many Nigerians know intuitively—that a steady stream of official antigraft rhetoric has hardly made a dent on what many agree is the most formidable perennial challenge to the country’s long-term stability. President Buhari’s sentiment to the effect that “if Nigeria does not kill corruption, then corruption will kill Nigeria,” is widely shared. Not only is Nigeria down five places from its 2020 ranking, its total score of twenty-four out of a maximum one hundred points represents a drop for the third successive year, making it West Africa’s second most corrupt country. Guinea-Bissau, still reeling from a failed military takeover in early February, holds the dubious honor of being the most corrupt.  

The Biden administration’s goal in organizing a Summit for Democracy isn’t simply about bolstering democracy. It is also about bolstering democracy to sideline a rising non-democratic country — China…