Trump promises West African leaders a pivot to trade as the region reels from sweeping aid cuts

WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump promised West African leaders a pivot from aid to agreement during a White House meeting Wednesday as the region reels from the impact of sweeping U S aid cuts Trump commented he sees great economic prospective in Africa as the leaders of Liberia Senegal Gabon Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau boasted of their countries natural support and heaped praise on the U S president including their thanks for his help in settling a long-running conflict between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo Trump described the nations represented at the meeting as all very vibrant places with very valuable land great minerals and great oil deposits and wonderful people a definite shift from his first term when he used a vulgar term to describe African nations The meeting comes amid a shift in U S global and domestic priorities under Trump s leadership Earlier this month U S officers dissolved theU S Agency for International Improvement and explained it was no longer following what they called a charity-based foreign aid model and instead would focus on partnerships with nations that show both the ability and willingness to help themselves The five nations whose leaders were meeting Trump represent a small fraction of U S -Africa transaction but they possess untapped natural materials Senegal and Mauritania are vital transit and origin countries when it comes to migration and along with Guinea-Bissau are struggling to contain drug trafficking both issues of concern for the Trump administration In their speeches each African leader adopted a flattering tone to commend Trump for what they described as his peace efforts across the world and tried to outshine one another by listing the untapped natural guidance their nations possess We have a great deal of tools disclosed Mohamed Ould Ghazouani president of Mauritania listing rare earths as well as manganese uranium and possibly lithium We have a lot of opportunities to offer in terms of funding Last month the U S administration facilitated a peace deal between Rwanda and Congo to help end the decadeslong deadly fighting in eastern Congo while enabling the U S to gain access to critical minerals in the region But analysts explained it won t end the fighting because the majority prominent armed group noted it does not apply to it During the meeting Trump described commerce as a diplomatic tool Exchange seems to be a foundation for him to settle disputes between countries he reported You guys are going to fight we re not going to bargain Trump announced And we seem to be quite prosperous in doing that He added addressing the African leaders There is a lot of anger on your continent As he spoke the U S administration continued sending out notifications to progressing countries about higher tariff rates effective from August The five Western African nations were not among them The portion of the lunch meeting that was open to the press didn t touch much on the loss of aid which critics say will consequence in millions of deaths We have closed the USAID group to eliminate waste fraud and abuse Trump revealed Wednesday And we re working tirelessly to forge new economic opportunities involving both the United States and countless African nations West African countries are among the hardest hit by the dissolution of USAID The U S help in Liberia amounted to of the country s gross national income the highest percentage anywhere in the world according to the Center for Global Advancement Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai in a declaration expressed optimism about the outcomes of the summit reaffirming Liberia s commitment to regional stability democratic governance and inclusive economic development During the meeting Trump reacted with visible surprise to Boakai s English-speaking skills which he praised English is the official language of Liberia which was established in the early s with the aim of relocating freed African slaves and free-born Black citizens from the United States Gabon Liberia Mauritania and Senegal are among countries that might be included in the viable expansion of Trump s advance ban Pronczuk communicated from Dakar Senegal Source