LUANDA, Angola \u2014 African leaders are torn in their dealings with the Trump administration, seeking to balance their desperate need for investment with deep frustrations over the U.S. president’s rhetoric and actions toward the continent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That was the prevailing sentiment in Luanda, Angola, last week among the 3,000 attendees and 12 heads of state at the 17th annual U.S.-Africa Business Summit, hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa, an association of U.S. businesses.<\/p>\n
The record attendance and promotion plastered across the city \u2014 with billboards hyping the summit from the airport to the city\u2019s popular waterfront promenade \u2014 pointed to the bright side in U.S.-African economic ties, linking the world\u2019s fastest-growing continent with its largest source of capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBring us those deals,\u201d Troy Fitrell, senior official for the Bureau of African Affairs, said to reporters at the conference, summing up the administration\u2019s message at the conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mutual excitement over dealmaking at the summit was tempered by frustrations with the Trump administration\u2019s immigration and trade policies, which threaten to undermine closer private-sector ties with the United States.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot accept visa bans, we cannot accept unfortunate tariffs with nothing to do with rules and regulations with the World Trade Organization,\u201d African Union Commission Chair Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the former foreign minister of Djibouti, said to loud applause in the opening session of the conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Angola, which hosted the summit, has long been a focus of U.S. investment and Washington\u2019s attention. The port city of Lobito is the entry and exit point of a transcontinental railway bringing minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to the Atlantic coast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Biden administration promised a $600 million loan to develop the so-called Lobito Corridor, but that money has yet to materialize, and it\u2019s unclear whether President Trump will follow through with the planned support. Still, Trump officials joined the Angolan government and multinational business executives in promoting their visions for expanded economic opportunities afforded by the rail line.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Trump during his second term has increasingly sought to use America\u2019s economic leverage as both a carrot and stick in its attempts to influence African countries: promising profitable partnerships if conflicts come to an end, while rattling the saber of harsh tariffs if countries don\u2019t yield to U.S. pressure.<\/p>\n
Trump on Friday hosted the foreign ministers of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the initial signing of a peace agreement \u2014 after Congo saw an opportunity to entice American mediation in exchange for access to the country\u2019s rich stores of critical minerals.<\/p>\n
Massad Boulos, father-in-law to Trump\u2019s daughter and the president\u2019s senior adviser for African affairs, tied the themes together during his speech to the conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMeaningful economic growth can only take root in an environment defined by peace and stability,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Speakers were not shy about their frustration over Trump\u2019s tariffs\u00a0\u2014 with proposed import taxes ranging from 10 to 50 percent on countries across the continent \u2014 or travel bans on at least seven African countries and the elimination of hundreds of millions in aid dollars for health care, education and democracy building.<\/p>\n
African leaders also warned against the expiration of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in September, a preferential trade agreement with eligible sub-Saharan African countries. Other attendees brought up concerns about the Trump administration\u2019s plans to close embassies across the continent.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s disparaging remarks toward African nations have also been a concern. The president famously referred to \u201cs—hole\u201d countries in Africa during his first term, and he more recently referred to the tiny, landlocked nation of Lesotho as a place \u201cno one\u2019s ever heard of\u201d in his address to Congress in March.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The enthusiastic reception for the African Union Commission chair\u2019s fiery remarks reflected a broader disappointment with Trump\u2019s policies so far.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AU Commission chairperson, we elected him to speak his mind,\u201d said former Ethiopian President Sahle-Work Zewde in a short interview on the sidelines of the conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe he got a lot of applause because the way we see United States is really, we put it on a high pedestal. When sometimes you get some policy directives, you\u2019d be very much surprised \u2014 why would a country that you very much revere, will consider some policy?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
But there was little appetite to roil relations with Washington. Most African leaders sought to avoid such direct criticism in their public comments, seeking to align themselves with Trump\u2019s desire to focus on investment. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe role of the United States is inevitable given its unique role on a global scale,\u201d said Angolan President Jo\u00e3o Louren\u00e7o in a keynote address opening the conference. Louren\u00e7o called for America\u2019s role to \u201creplace the logic of aid with the logic of ambition and private investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump invited Louren\u00e7o to visit Washington in July alongside the leaders of Congo and Rwanda for a signing ceremony in their peace agreement.<\/p>\n
Carla Sydney Stone, president of World Trade Center Delaware, has been coming to the summit for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say that people here are very enthusiastic about doing business with Americans, Americans are well liked, from what I\u2019ve seen,\u201d she said in a proudly American booth, among dozens set up in air-conditioned tents at the summit. <\/p>\n
The gathering served as a counterpoint to the usual news about Africa, Stone added. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of good information coming out of the press, it\u2019s a lot of negative, it doesn\u2019t talk about the economic opportunities here,\u201d Stone told The Hill. <\/p>\n
Attendees networked while munching on pastries, fruit, fresh-squeezed juice and made-to-order espresso. Panels featured remarks from some of America\u2019s biggest brands, including Bank of America, Boeing, Mastercard and Coca Cola. Conversations flowed at long banquet tables facing Luanda\u2019s harbor, with overloaded platters fish, meat and desserts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps to have a trusted partner here, that\u2019s very important,\u201d Stone said. \u201cRelationships matter not just in Africa, they matter all over the world. It\u2019s not a completely transactional society. American business tends to be more focused on the transaction rather than the longer term.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, the summit was largely about celebrating deals. To list a few:<\/p>\n
On hand for these signings was a U.S. delegation that included Fitrell and Boulos, along with Tamara Maxwell, acting senior vice president of small business for the Export-Import Bank of the U.S.; Thomas Hardy, director of policy and program management at the U.S. Trade and Development Agency; and Conor Coleman, head of investments at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.<\/p>\n
Haim Taib, founder and president of the Mitrelli Group, which is working on building a Lobito Corridor platform to take advantage of the rail line, said the U.S. delegation wasn\u2019t good enough.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI expect a little bit more, at least some very high positions to come here. But it\u2019s OK,\u201d Taib said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBusinessmen, I saw a lot,\u201d he said, but he argued U.S. policies toward Africa were throttling serious interest from American investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important to change the policy in favor of Africa, then it would give more confidence to American investors to come to Africa to invest. Today it\u2019s almost impossible to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n