By Kamailoudini Tagba and Akayla Gardner, Bloomberg.
President Donald Trump welcomed leaders of five African nations, hailing the continent’s economic potential as his administration seeks to expand US access to critical minerals and other natural resources.
“My administration is committed to strengthening our friendships in Africa through economic development efforts that benefit both the United States and our partners,” Trump said at a White House event with leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal, kicking off a three-day summit.
Trump said there was “tremendous wealth there and potential” in those nations and highlighted his efforts to drum up more deals with other economies in lieu of US foreign assistance.
“We’re shifting from aid to trade,” Trump added.
“In the long run this will be far more effective and sustainable and beneficial than anything else that we could be doing together.”
Trump also suggested he could exempt the assembled countries from his plans to impose heightened reciprocal tariffs beginning in August, saying the assembled leaders were “friends of mine now.”
While the five countries whose leaders are visiting the White House rank among Africa’s smaller economies – with a combined gross domestic product of only around $75 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund – they’re rich in minerals and have the potential to produce far more than they do today.
Friend or foe?
Notably absent from the gathering, however, were leaders from Africa’s biggest economies including South Africa, which faces the introduction of a 30% reciprocal tariff by the Trump administration, and Nigeria, the continent’s largest oil producer. Nigeria was initially hit with a 14% tariff in April – lowered to a 10% rate during a negotiating period – and faces the threat that Trump may impose unilateral duties if a deal is not reached.
The summit offers to help spur deals in a region of the world where the US is looking for more business opportunities even as cuts to foreign aid and other programmes raise worries that Washington is losing ground to Chinese influence.
But Trump’s event Wednesday is also likely to fuel worries that the administration is neglecting the region. Trump urged the leaders to keep their remarks brief, saying he had to leave their gathering for another event.
“Maybe we have to go quicker than this because we have a whole schedule,” Trump said.
Asked if Trump planned to visit the continent, the president demurred, saying he would like to plan a trip but needed “to see what the schedule is like.”