United States (US) president Donald Trump will welcome five African leaders to a White House lunch on Wednesday, with commerce and trade expected to feature prominently among a mixed bag of potential agenda items.
The presidents of Senegal, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon – five nations located along Africa’s Atlantic Coast – will convene at Trump’s behest.
Officials from the countries have told AFP they expect talks to centre on trade, investment and security, as they meet in the executive mansion’s state dining room. But few concrete details have emerged as to the White House’s intentions.
The meeting comes as the Trump administration is focused on tariffs and trade deals, and as it seeks to ensure a stable supply of critical minerals.
But the five nations lack the extreme mineral wealth of other African countries, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The gathering takes place just days after the Trump administration celebrated the formal shuttering of the US foreign aid agency USAID, trumpeting the move as an end to the “charity-based model”.
Officials from the five countries who spoke to AFP seemed keenly aware of the White House ethos.
Liberia’s president, Joseph Boakai, accepted the invitation with an eye on no longer being “solely an aid recipient”, his press secretary Kula Fofana told AFP on Tuesday.
“Our interest is to look more to trade and engagement partners who will invest,” she said.
Gabonese presidential spokesperson Theophane Biyoghe says the meeting marks a chance for synergies “centred around the industrialisation of our economy”.
US arch rivals China and Russia have made major incursions into the region recently, including substantial investments by Beijing in a number of the countries.
Moscow, meanwhile, has lent support to the region’s newly formed Alliance of Sahel States, comprised of junta-led Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
The alliance states share borders with several of the counties at Wednesday’s lunch. Security and drugs could additionally feature on the White House agenda.
In April, Guinea-Bissau said it had turned over four convicted Latin American drug smugglers to the US DEA drug enforcement authority. The country is often used as a transit zone for moving cocaine from Latin America to Europe and beyond.
Shortly before leaving for Washington, Guinea-Bissau president Umaro Embalo described the visit to the press as “very important” for his country.
“Economically, this is a great opportunity opening for us,” he declared, adding that he hoped his country would also benefit from “the support” the United States provides to other countries.
