President Donald Trump hosted five African presidents at the White House on Wednesday for conversations around possible economic partnerships with the U.S.
The administration has said it’s working to change America’s relationship with African and other countries from a “charity-based model” of international aid to one that invests in mutually beneficial opportunities that advance American interests.
The presidents spoke to Trump about some of these opportunities in their countries, including rare earth minerals, oil and gas reserves and raw materials like manganese, uranium, iron ore, valuable for energy, defense and infrastructure.
President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, the fourth president of Gabon, said that his country does not lack for natural resources but needs America’s help in unlocking the economic potential of those resources.
“We are not poor countries,” Nguema said of his country and the others represented at the meeting – Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal.
“We are rich countries when it comes to raw materials,” he continued. “But we need partners to support us and help us develop those resources with win-win partnerships. That is our wish.”
Even though Nguema said the five African countries had secured peace for themselves, he implored Trump for strategic U.S. involvement to quell instability in the region, as did some of the others.
“Africa is a vast continent that has many problems, and we truly count on you for your assistance in Sudan and in the Sahel” — the western and north-central African region stretching from Senegal eastward to Sudan –– “because no investment can be made when there is a war,” Nguema said.
Both Nguema and Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye emphasized that their countries were safe places for American businesses to invest, highlighting transparency and regulatory openness — principles often emphasized by the Trump administration.
“I want to reassure all American investors about our country’s political stability and our favorable regulatory environment, which we are continuously improving upon in order to attract more investment,” Faye said.
Faye invited American tech companies to develop a seaside area within Senegal’s capital, Dakar, into a “digital city.”
President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, president of West African Mauritania, thanked Trump for the meeting and the “message of interest” he was sending to African nations.
“This is a message of interest that you’re sending to us, and it’s a message that you’re sending to the whole of Africa. All of this is generous on your part. We are receiving this, and we accept this message from you,” Ghazouani said.
The U.S. is also interested in expanding its presence in Africa because China and other rival nations have done so in recent years.
