Trump’s surprise focus on Africa wins cheers mixed with fears

President Trump has surprised African officials and observers with his recent focus on the continent, where the U.S. has lagged behind China, Russia and Middle Eastern countries in building economic ties. 

Trump’s hosting of five West African leaders at the White House last week provided an enormous platform for attention.

African officials and analysts are hoping this engagement can mitigate some of the administration’s most destructive policies: massive foreign aid cuts, forcing out government expert staff, and stoking tensions with travel bans and tariffs.

“It was an interesting first step, pretty unexpected, and I hope they will be able, on both sides, to build something significant from there,” said Rama Yade, senior director of the Atlantic Council's Africa Center. 

“It's the last opportunity for the United States to catch up because on the African soil, there is huge competition.”

The convening of the five-country mini-summit — with leaders from Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal and Gabon — served as another boon for Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for African affairs and father-in-law to the president’s daughter Tiffany. 

It was the second time in two weeks that Boulos was in the White House next to the president. 

The week earlier he presided over a peace agreement signing between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. Days before the signing, Boulos was the most senior U.S. official at the U.S. Africa Business Summit in Angola, touting $2.5 billion in deals and commitments signed at the conference. 

Even if the administration’s policies are somewhat haphazard, Africa watchers are pleasantly surprised at the attention being paid to the continent.

“I do believe that there is some mixed messaging that is coming from the administration that could undercut some of the stated aims of the administration, to grow the partnership, to continue that trajectory of collaboration,” said Kendra Gaither, president of the U.S.-Africa Business Center with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. 

“You have a very forward leaning commercial strategy and a whole of government initiative to support partnership between Africa and the United States, and yet, there are other policy decisions that are being taken in other realms, or lack of decisions, that can undercut the success of that effort.”

Top of mind for African leaders is whether Congress will reauthorize the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the duty-free trade agreement for sub-Saharan African countries that is set to expire Sept. 30. While Trump’s top trade official, Jamieson Greer, said Congress has to take the first step, Republican leaders in the House and Senate have demonstrated they only act with specific instructions from the president. 

Immigration is another main point of tension. African officials have earlier spoken out against Trump's travel ban and restrictions impacting 10 African countries. 

In his meetings with the five leaders, Trump raised pressure for the countries to accept deportees from the U.S. 

President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embaló rejected the idea outright. 

“If they are another citizen, why we going [to take] them? No, our policy don’t accept that,” he said during a panel with the Atlantic Council. 

And the president’s mixed signals on tariffs are frustrating and disruptive to some watching Africa.

After the five African leaders fawned over the president and dangled economic opportunities related to mining of rare earth metals and critical minerals, Trump responded as possibly holding back tariffs. All countries are under a 10 percent tariff while Trump has threatened larger tariffs on countries that he believes have a trade deficit with the U.S.

“I don’t think so,” Trump said in response to a question over whether the five countries would be taxed. “These are friends of mine now.”

Liberian Ambassador to the U.S. Al-Hassan Conteh said leaders did not receive any concrete assurances that the tariffs would be lifted, but he described the White House meeting as an important venue to point out that the U.S. has a $150 million trade surplus with Liberia and to request help for a geological survey to identify opportunities for mineral extraction, like iron ore. 

“I think the biggest achievement is, first of all, the breaking of the ice between [Liberian] President [Joseph] Boakai and President Trump … also the commitment of the United States to encourage investors to pay a keen attention to Liberia, because we have a lot to offer,” he said. 

And while Trump’s praising of Boakai’s “beautiful” English drew some ridicule — English is the official language of the country — Liberian officials are welcoming the attention and publicity as driving new interest and awareness about the country. 

Google searches soared in the wake of Trump’s misstep, leading more people to likely learn that the country was founded in the early 1800s by freed African slaves in the U.S., its government is modeled after Washington, and its capital, Monrovia, was named for America’s fifth president, James Monroe. 

“We are looking at that positively, because probably many people did not know about Liberia,” Conteh said. 

The White House meeting was the tip of the iceberg for these countries, which brought formidable delegations to attend meetings throughout Washington.

But experts and analysts say Trump’s threats to shutdown and suspend key U.S. agencies undermines efforts to execute on the administration's ambitions. 

This includes uncertainty over the future of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which provides development grants for poor but stable countries as a way to ease the barrier for entry for U.S. businesses. Tech billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted the MCC for shutdown.

Trump downgraded the Africa desk at the National Security Council by merging it with the one for the Middle East. The International Trade Administration fired staff members who analysts say are key to helping implement Trump’s focus on cutting commercial deals. 

Trump has nominated only two ambassadors for sub-Saharan Africa — for Namibia and South Africa. The majority of positions are filled by holdovers from the Biden administration or have no nominees. 

It’s not clear how the State Department’s reorganization and staff cuts of approximately 3,000 people will play out, but Democrats are raising alarm that letting go of expert staff is a gift to China in fraught areas of competition — the battle for critical minerals, artificial intelligence and opening up business opportunities in particular in Africa. 

“The DOGE operations, the slashing of staffing, etc., I don't think was done in a way that can support the president’s agenda on Africa; they will have to review that,” said Joseph Sany, vice president for the Africa Center with the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP). The institute is engaged in a lawsuit with the Trump administration to keep its doors open.

Sany lamented the missed opportunity for the USIP to be a venue of further engagement outside the high profile of the White House meeting — but was buoyed by the attention on the continent.

“I'm not cynical about this engagement. I'm speaking honestly; I'm not cynical,” Sany said. 

“I'm beginning to see a pattern of engagement here. We will see if that pattern of engagement will deliver the results that African countries hope to receive, and that the administration hope to see a benefit for the United States.”