Two years ago, the 60 Plus Association, the senior’s advocacy group of which I am president, came out in favor of oil exploration in the Arctic. We believe that such an initiative will secure the supply of this important commodity to the U.S., stabilize prices and as a consequence, improve the living standard of ordinary Americans. That is why I also support recent actions of President Trump and the State Department regarding Africa. After years of policy drift under the Bidden administration, we are finally about to engage with African nations as both trading and security partners, to mutual benefit. In Africa, we now have the opportunity to access resources crucial to the advanced economy of the U.S., and the current administration is right in seizing the diplomatic initiative.
Essentially, the U.S. cannot afford to ignore Africa for three simple reasons: first, all our adversaries and competitors are already there, hoovering up Africa’s vast mineral resources and ring-fencing land. Secondly, serious U.S. government engagement in Africa will open up enormous opportunities for American investors, not just by securing our own supply of critical minerals and rare-earth elements, but also through trade and other commercial contracts. Finally, increased co-operation between African nations, on the one side, and the U.S. on the other, is important for our national security, and it will promote peace and prosperity on the continent.
This is why a slew of recent announcements coming out of the State Department and the White House mark a welcome turning point in U.S. policy on Africa under President Trump. The Biden administration’s neglect for the African continent is out the door, having created not just a number of security threats for the United States, including the return of piracy around the Horn of Africa and attacks on ships by Houthi extremists, but also because he failed to address China’s expansionist policies across the African continent. The ineptitude of Biden’s administration has allowed China to create a monopoly over Africa’s vast array of resources, ignoring the national interests and the national security of the United States.
Thankfully, in just the first 100 days of the Trump administration, things are changing and they are changing fast. On April 1, Trump and the State Department appointed Massad Boulos as the Senior Advisor for Africa. Almost immediately, Boulos, a businessman with extensive experience of living and working in Africa, set off on a diplomatic tour of Central and Eastern Africa. He visited the heads of state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, and he also engaged with foreign minister Tete Antonio, of DRC’s south-westerly neighbor, Angola.
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The purpose of the visit was to talk to the parties about the three-decades long conflict in the eastern DRC and to explore options for a peace agreement —and his progress was immediate. In a major diplomatic success, Secretary of State Marco Rubio inked a “Declaration of Principles” at a signing ceremony in Washington, D.C. on April 18, between the Democratic Republic of the Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner and Rwanda’s Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe. Peace in the DRC now appears to be closer than at any point over the past 30 years.
But, this is just the beginning of what is long-overdue political and economic reengagement by the United States in Africa. The continent will benefit from strong relations between African governments and the U.S., while the Trump administration will create more opportunities for peace and stability, which will stimulate foreign direct investment by American companies.
African leaders and businessmen regularly complain, “We are criticized that the Chinese are too influential in Africa, but what have the Americans done to counter it?” But, now there is an opportunity to change this narrative. The Trump administration and DOGE have rapidly eliminated wasteful USAID programs whilst at the same time reorganizing the U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) with an investment cap, rising from $60 billion during Trump’s first term to $120 billion from 2025, in a real boost for the American private sector looking to invest abroad. The US EXIM Bank, with new leadership, will facilitate the export of U.S. goods and services meaning more jobs in America.
Africa must not miss this opportunity by allowing funding to go to other parts of the world. African nations need to respond efficiently and effectively and they must be delivery-focused. U.S. investors do not want to be faced with unnecessary obstacles and bureaucratic red tape and the business environment must enable investments to flow.
And in a culmination of last month’s bonanza of good news for Africa coming out of the U.S., the State Department reiterated its commitment to the Lobito rail corridor, and stated that the $4 billion project was “very important”. ‘The Lobito what?’, you may ask. Well, don’t be surprised if in the coming years you hear a lot more about it.
The Democratic Republic of Congo is enormously rich in minerals that are critical to the economies of the future. Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos have already invested in Kobold, a company aiming to acquire a lithium mining concession there, while others are pursuing concessions to mine other minerals such as manganese. The best route to the mineral-hungry U.S. market from the DRC is through the Lobito Corridor which starts in DRC’s mineral-rich interior and terminates at the port of Lobito on Angola’s Atlantic coast.
Boulos’ immediate progress in DRC has not gone unnoticed by the Africans, and the Angolans are already expecting the Trump administration to do more than Biden or Obama by developing this immensely important trade route.
A U.S. investor called HYDRO-LINK is developing a 1,150 km transmission line that can deliver reliable power to the mining sectors in both DRC and Angola as well as in towns in both countries. HYDRO-LINK expects to supply a major part of the project materials from the United States, creating jobs in factories in South Carolina, Alabama and California.
The Lobito Corridor railroad and the HYDRO-LINK transmission line are transformational projects. Together they represent the Trump administration’s first moves into large and strategic African infrastructure projects that are developed, built and operated by the private sector.
The Lobito corridor and the development of associated power infrastructure will shift the narrative on U.S. involvement in Africa. Whether it is for DRC peace initiatives or economic development, the U.S. is finally offering solutions. It is not ceding ground to anyone, but working in the best interest of both Americans and the peoples of Africa - and with long-term investments funded with commercial loans and not with wasteful aid that burdens the American taxpayer.
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