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Trump talks ‘incredible commercial opportunity’ with his African lunch guests
Africa Confidential
Was the invitation from United States President Donald Trump to the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal to lunch at the White House on 9 July as random as many diplomats thought? None of them would generate headlines. But the five match the Trump administration’s priorities on Africa: minerals, security and migration control. Their invitation to Washington coincided with pushback by bigger countries such as Nigeria and South Africa against Trump’s policies on visas and tariffs. Speculation pushed by Trump associates in Washington that Mauritania’s President Mohamed Ould Cheikh el Ghazouani would be meeting Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the first stage in a normalisation deal turned out to be overblown.
Migration is a key issue in US politics. The Trump administration is following the EU’s ‘cash for migrant control’ deal with Mauritania. The EU is talking with Senegal on a similar arrangement. Some 20,000 people left Mauritania for the US between 2023 and 2025. The US also wants partners to host military bases to replace its hub at Agadez in Niger.
Senegal, Mauritania and Gabon are rich in gold, oil, manganese, gas, wood and zircon. The White House says that the gathering represents an ‘incredible’ commercial opportunity. With a series of US-Africa summits in the diary for the second half of 2025, such mini-summits may be a sign of things to come.
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