WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump promised West African leaders a pivot from aid to trade during a White House meeting Wednesday as the region reels from the impact of sweeping US aid cuts.
Trump said he sees “great economic potential in Africa” as the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau boasted of their countries’ natural resources and heaped praise on the US president, including their thanks for his help in settling a long-running conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Trump described the nations represented at the meeting as “all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, and great oil deposits, and wonderful people” — a definite shift from his first term, when he used a vulgar term to describe African nations.
The meeting comes amid a shift in US global and domestic priorities under Trump’s leadership. Earlier this month, US authorities dissolved theUS Agency for International Development and said it was no longer following what they called “a charity-based foreign aid model” and instead would focus on partnerships with nations that show “both the ability and willingness to help themselves.”
The five nations whose leaders were meeting Trump represent a small fraction of US-Africa trade, but they possess untapped natural resources. Senegal and Mauritania are important transit and origin countries when it comes to migration and along with Guinea-Bissau are struggling to contain drug trafficking, both issues of concern for the Trump administration.
In their speeches, each African leader adopted a flattering tone to commend Trump for what they described as his peace efforts across the world and tried to outshine one another by listing the untapped natural resources their nations possess.
“We have a great deal of resources,” said Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, president of Mauritania, listing rare earths, as well as manganese, uranium and possibly lithium. “We have a lot of opportunities to offer in terms of investment.”
Last month, the US administration facilitated a peace deal between Rwanda and Congo to help end the decadeslong deadly fighting in eastern Congo, while enabling the US to gain access to critical minerals in the region. But analysts said it won’t end the fighting because the most prominent armed group said it does not apply to it.
During the meeting, Trump described trade as a diplomatic tool. Trade “seems to be a foundation” for him to settle disputes between countries, he said.
“You guys are going to fight, we’re not going to trade,” Trump said. “And we seem to be quite successful in doing that.”
He added, addressing the African leaders: “There is a lot of anger on your continent.”
As he spoke, the US administration continued sending out notifications to developing countries about higher tariff rates effective from August 1. The five Western African nations were not among them.
The portion of the lunch meeting that was open to the press didn’t touch much on the loss of aid, which critics say will result in millions of deaths.
“We have closed the USAID group to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse,” Trump said Wednesday. “And we’re working tirelessly to forge new economic opportunities involving both the United States and many African nations.”
West African countries are among the hardest hit by the dissolution of USAID. The US support in Liberia amounted to 2.6 percent of the country’s gross national income, the highest percentage anywhere in the world, according to the Center for Global Development.
Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai in a statement “expressed optimism about the outcomes of the summit, reaffirming Liberia’s commitment to regional stability, democratic governance and inclusive economic growth.”
During the meeting, Trump reacted with visible surprise to Boakai’s English-speaking skills, which he praised. English is the official language of Liberia, which was established in the early 1800s with the aim of relocating freed African slaves and free-born Black citizens from the United States.
Gabon, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal are among 36 countries that might be included in the possible expansion of Trump’s travel ban.
Experts said that the meeting highlighted the new transactional nature of the relationship between the US and Africa.
“We are likely to see a trend where African countries will seek to leverage resources such as critical minerals, or infrastructure such as ports, to attract US commercial entities in order to maintain favorable relations with the current US administration,” aid Beverly Ochieng, an analyst at Control Risks, a security consulting firm. “Each of the African leaders sought to leverage natural resources in exchange for US financial and security investments, and appeared to view the US intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a model to further cooperation.”
Trump promises West African leaders a pivot to trade as the region reels from sweeping aid cuts
https://arab.news/rmaug
Trump promises West African leaders a pivot to trade as the region reels from sweeping aid cuts
- Trump described the nations represented at the meeting as “all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, and great oil deposits, and wonderful people”
- West African countries are among the hardest hit by the dissolution of USAID
Ukraine drops NATO goal as Trump envoy sees progress in peace talks
- The move marks a major shift for Ukraine, which has fought to join NATO as a safeguard against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration included in its constitution
BERLIN/KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky offered to drop Ukraine’s aspirations to join the NATO military alliance as he held five hours of talks with US envoys in Berlin on Sunday to end the war with Russia, with negotiations set to continue on Monday.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said “a lot of progress was made” as he and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met Zelensky in the latest push to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two, though full details were not divulged.
Zelensky’s adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said the president would comment on the talks on Monday once they were completed. Officials, Lytvyn said, were considering the draft documents.
“They went on for more than five hours and ended for today with an agreement to resume tomorrow morning,” Lytvyn told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
Ahead of the talks, Zelensky offered to drop Ukraine’s goal to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees.
The move marks a major shift for Ukraine, which has fought to join NATO as a safeguard against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration included in its constitution. It also meets one of Russia’s war aims, although Kyiv has so far held firm against ceding territory to Moscow.
“Representatives held in-depth discussions regarding the 20-point plan for peace, economic agendas, and more. A lot of progress was made, and they will meet again tomorrow morning,” Witkoff said in a post on X.
The talks were hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who a source said had made brief remarks before leaving the two sides to negotiate. Other European leaders are also due in Germany for talks on Monday.
“From the very beginning, Ukraine’s desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not support this direction,” Zelensky said in answer to questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
“Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the US, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — Canada, Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion,” Zelensky said.
“And it is already a compromise on our part,” he said, adding the security guarantees should be legally binding.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded Ukraine officially renounce its NATO ambitions and withdraw troops from the about 10 percent of Donbas which Kyiv still controls. Moscow has also said Ukraine must be a neutral country and no NATO troops can be stationed in Ukraine.
Russian sources said earlier this year that Putin wants a “written” pledge by major Western powers not to enlarge the US-led NATO alliance eastwards — shorthand for formally ruling out membership to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics.
Sending Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia on a US peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress nearly four years after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Under pressure from Trump to sign a peace deal that initially backed Moscow’s demands, Zelensky accused Russia of dragging out the war through deadly bombings of cities and Ukraine’s power and water supplies.
A ceasefire along the current front lines would be a fair option, he added.
‘CRITICAL MOMENT’
Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said it was a “good sign” Trump had sent his envoys while fielding questions in an interview with the ZDF broadcaster on the suitability of Witkoff and Kushner, two businessmen, as negotiators.
“It’s certainly anything but an ideal setup for such negotiations. That much is clear. But as they say, you can only dance with the people on the dance floor,” Pistorius said.
On the issue of Ukraine’s offer to give up its NATO aspirations in exchange for security guarantees, Pistorius said Ukraine had bitter prior experience of relying on security assurances. Kyiv had in 1994 agreed to give up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in exchange for territorial guarantees from the US, Russia and Britain.
“Therefore, it remains to be seen to what extent this statement Zelensky has now made will actually hold true, and what preconditions must be met,” Pistorius said.
“This concerns territorial issues, commitments from Russia and others,” he said, adding mere security guarantees, especially without significant US involvement, “wouldn’t be worth much.”
Britain, France and Germany have been working to refine the US proposals, which in a draft disclosed last month called for Kyiv to cede more territory, abandon its NATO ambitions and accept limits on its armed forces.
European allies have described this as a “critical moment” that could shape Ukraine’s future, and sought to shore up Kyiv’s finances by leveraging frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Kyiv’s military and civilian budget.
