It is no secret that Beijing has been utilizing a number of tactics connected to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including debt-trap diplomacy and coercion, to cement its influence throughout Africa and other parts of the developing world. China has notoriously exploited local labor for commercial advantage.
Amid China’s growing role in Africa, however, comes a marked transformation in the U.S.’s Africa policy under President Trump—one that prioritizes stability and trade over endless, unaccounted-for aid. Strictly essential, life-saving aid directly from the State Department is allowed to flow to the continent, contrary to claims of the administration shutting off aid altogether.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio best explained the administration’s Africa policy:
In Africa, America needs a policy of trade, not aid, and over the past hundred days the State Department has replaced handouts with firm diplomatic engagement aimed at ending conflicts and expanding opportunities for American companies
In rethinking American soft power to focus on economic engagement that aligns with an America First agenda, the Trump administration is actively challenging the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on the continent that is home to some of the fastest-growing economies, the fastest-growing population, and abundant natural resources.
Nothing better illustrates President Trump’s approach—and focus on cultivating human-to-human connections—than his White House lunch meeting with five African leaders to discuss trade, migration, natural resources, and security concerns, where President Trump also rightly alluded to China’s poor treatment of African countries. Or the 17th U.S.-Africa Business Summit, held in Angola, that yielded a total of $2.5 billion in deals between U.S. and African entities, underscoring the administration’s commitment to the “trade not aid” principle.
Joe Biden had almost entirely ignored Africa, only managing to make a brief trip to the continent in the last weeks of his single term, all while China and Russia continued to expand their footprint in the region through investment and proxy actors.
At one point on this trip, Biden lived up to his nickname “Sleepy Joe” by appearing to doze off in front of African leaders during a multilateral meeting in Lobito, Angola:
Biden barely hosted African leaders at the White House and was notably hesitant to engage in any direct contact with them. Some African leaders note the lack of respect and attention given to them during in-person meetings with the Biden administration.
Contrasting Biden’s disengagement from the region, one of the most significant achievements of the Trump administration is the peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda (i.e., the Washington Accord), signed on June 27 and set to be sealed in the coming weeks, which seeks to end decades of armed conflict involving the two states and affiliated rebel groups.
Aside from the obvious benefit of putting an end to fighting, this peace agreement was signed along with a rare earth minerals agreement, granting the U.S. mineral rights in the eastern section of the DRC. The DRC’s untapped minerals are worth an estimated $24 trillion.
The minerals-for-security agreement shifts the U.S.’s position away from mere peace broker to stakeholder, with President Trump warning of “very severe consequences, financial and otherwise,” if the actors violate the terms of the peace deal.
China has been active in the DRC for some time now, mining cobalt and coltan, metals that are crucial to batteries and various electronic devices. The DRC produces almost 75% of the world’s cobalt, with Chinese companies exercising control over 80% of this African country’s cobalt production, and is home to about 60% of the world’s coltan reserves. China sources the majority of its cobalt from the DRC.
Already, an American company has struck a mineral exploration deal with the Congolese government and others are looking to do the same. This represents a turning point in DRC-U.S. relations and a growing American foothold in the country’s critical minerals sector.
All of this comes at a time when Beijing is quickly solidifying its control over critical minerals and as we move to break China’s monopoly, making strides in developing our mining/refining capacity along with expanding price support for domestic projects, while working with countries to inhibit China’s predatory expansion in the global mineral supply chain.
The Trump administration has also reiterated its support for continuing to fund and expand the Lobito Corridor running through Zambia, the DRC, and Angola—a major U.S.-backed infrastructure project essential to the transport of Africa’s natural resources and to trade on the continent. A bipartisan project, it serves as a counterweight to China’s BRI.
The Trump administration has managed to secure numerous projects along the route, such as a partnership to build and operate grain terminals. Some sources had voiced concern over the project’s future during the Biden administration, fearing that portions of the corridor could fall into Chinese hands.
While much has been accomplished by the Trump administration in Africa vis-à-vis China in a short period of time, we need to remain focused. Trump must continue engaging African leaders; holding parties accountable in former conflict zones, which we are poised to do; and working to peel leaders away from Beijing by effectively communicating to them the risks associated with Chinese projects and loans, and the benefits of working with us.
It is also essential for the Trump administration to fully embrace countries that are willing to work with us. For example, it would be in the U.S.’s best interest to officially recognize Somaliland—a country that has been at the forefront of countering Chinese infiltration on the continent and maintains close relations with Taiwan—a move that the Trump administration has reportedly been considering. Other benefits come with Somaliland recognition, namely a strategic military base at Berbera amid our weakening position in China-aligned Djibouti, a partner in counter-terrorism and counter-piracy operations, and access to critical minerals, all of which would strengthen American influence in the Horn of Africa.
We are just now catching up to China in Africa—but late is better than never. As media outlets falsely claim that we are a country with a foreign policy in retreat, think of Africa and the previous administration that sat by for four years, bowing to the aid industrial complex, as our enemies tightened their stranglehold.
Continue watching the Trump administration’s efforts to counter China in Africa, which includes the tireless diplomatic work of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Senior Advisor for Africa Massad Boulos. I can assure you that they are far from finished.