U.S. President Donald Trump is set to host a select group of African leaders this week at the White House, focusing on expanding American access to critical minerals and natural resources.
However, conspicuously absent from the invite list are the continent’s two largest economies—Nigeria and South Africa, Bloomberg reports.
Trump invited the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal for a three-day summit at the White House that’s scheduled to begin on Wednesday.
The five rank among Africa’s smaller economies, with a combined gross domestic product of only around $75 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund. But they’re rich in minerals and have the potential to produce far more than they do today.
Ahead of the talks, Liberia’s government announced that it had signed a $1.8 billion agreement with Ivanhoe Atlantic Inc., majority owned by a company founded by Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. Chairman Robert Friedland.
The deal will allow the US mining company to rehabilitate and use the country’s railway infrastructure to transport iron ore from neighboring Guinea for export.
The Central African nation of Gabon, the world’s second-biggest producer of manganese — which is used to harden steel products — is expecting to discuss potential investments in its minerals industry, Gabon’s ambassador to the US, Noël Nelson Messone, said in an interview.
“The president of the republic is keen to see Gabon’s natural resources processed locally to add value to the economy, diversify the economy and create jobs,” he said.
Four of the countries — excluding Gabon — are on the periphery of the unstable Sahel region, and may offer opportunities for security cooperation in an area that’s been blighted by a decade-long Islamist insurgency and military coups in recent years.
Their importance has been heightened after the US was forced to shut its drone base in Niger last year, and has strained relations with Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad, which ended a security agreement with the US in April 2024, Bloomberg noted.
What you should know
On Sunday, President Trump announced that Nigeria and South Africa will be among countries facing an additional 10% tariff for aligning with what he described as the “anti-American policies of BRICS.”
The BRICS group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran.
Nigeria became the ninth partner country of BRICS, joining Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.
At the 17th BRICS Summit, President Bola Tinubu reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the BRICS partnership and the Global South.
