Biden fulfilling promise to visit Africa as US looks to counter China’s deepening influence in region

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1President Joe Biden will fulfill a two-year promise to visit Africa as he departs Sunday night for Angola, a trip aimed at highlighting US investment in the continent under his watch in the face of China’s deepening inroads in the region.

2Biden’s three-day visit to oil-rich Angola comes at the tail end of his presidency, as he’ll hand over power to President-elect Donald Trump in January. 3The trip provides Biden with another chance to cement relations with a key US partner in Africa even as the continent prepares for the return of Trump, who made disparaging comments about African countries in his first term.

4When Biden lands in the capital of Luanda on Monday, it will mark the first time a sitting president has visited sub-Saharan Africa since 2015, when then-President Barack Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia. 5It will also be the first time a US president has visited Angola, with which Biden has sought to shore up relations in recent years.

6As he hosted African leaders in Washington for a 2022 summit, Biden vowed to visit the continent the following year but ultimately missed that deadline. 7He scheduled a trip to Angola for this October, which was postponed due to a pair of devastating hurricanes hitting the US.

8Biden’s trip will highlight investments in the Lobito Corridor, an 800-mile railway project backed by the United States and Europe aiming to facilitate the transport of critical minerals from interior Africa to Angola’s western port for exporting.

9The initiative is at the center of the Biden administration’s efforts to boost investment in Africa to blunt China’s growing influence in the region, which has outpaced that of the US. 10Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects across the continent over the last decade through its Belt and Road Initiative. 11In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $50 billion in financial support for the continent as well as military aid.

12Related article Trump selects Jared Kushner’s father, Charles Kushner, for ambassador to France

15At the same time, Russia has tried to expand its influence in Africa. 16The head of US Africa Command warned Congress in March that Russia is aggressively working to expand its footing among African countries, leaving several “at the tipping point” of falling under its influence.

17While China and Russia have made inroads in the continent, a senior administration official previewing the trip argued Biden “put us back on the field” by “offering this alternative” to China through US-backed investments.

18“That is the choice that is now available to countries throughout the region, not looking at, ‘Do I have to accept Chinese investment with low standards and child labor and corruption – but do I have another offering to compare it to?’” 19the senior official said. 20“This is what President Biden’s wanted: to transform our relationship in the region, to offer a different – more – investment, but with higher standards.”

21The Biden administration has sought to shift its strategy in Africa from one of development assistance and charity toward investment in specific countries, the senior official said. 22Officials suggested Biden’s team believes the policy will endure throughout future administrations.

23“While, of course, I can’t speak for the next administration, I think there’s a lot of reason to assume that some of these initiatives will continue on,” a second senior administration official previewing the trip said, adding that the Lobito Corridor is “paying dividends for all of us.”

24The US views Angola as a key partner, cooperating on economic, technological and scientific initiatives in the region, and Angola has played a key mediating role in the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

25As he looked to highlight his commitment to Africa, Biden hosted Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço for an Oval Office meeting in 2023, touting American investments in the Lobito Corridor and solar energy projects.

26“Simply put, a partnership between Angola and America is more important and more impactful,” Biden said.

27Biden departs for Africa on Sunday evening and makes a refueling stop in Sal, Cape Verde, where he will meet with the country’s prime minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva. 28Biden arrives in Luanda, Angola, on Monday and will meet with US embassy staff and their families.

29On Tuesday, Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Lourenço and deliver remarks at the National Slavery Museum, which is located near the site where slaves were once shipped to the US. 30The president will lay out “both our shared history and highlight the growth and enduring strength of our relationships in Angola and across the continent,” the second senior administration official said.

31The president will travel to Lobito on Wednesday, touring the Lobito Port Terminal and visiting the Carrinho Food Processing Factory. 32He is also set to meet with regional leaders during a Lobito Corrridor Trans-Africa Summit before departing for the US on Wednesday evening.

33The president will make new announcements, the official said, regarding a global health security partnership on infectious disease, agribusiness, security cooperation, and the preservation of Angola’s cultural heritage, including US support for Angola’s nomination of the Kwanza Corridor as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

34Officials declined to say whether this would be Biden’s last trip abroad as president. 35His travel to Africa comes on the heels of attending key summits in Brazil and Peru, where Trump’s influence was already felt among world leaders.

36In an interview with The New York Times ahead of Biden’s visit to Angola, Lourenço said he is “ready to work” with Trump in the White House.

37“We aren’t concerned with a change that has happened in the U.S. administration. 38This is not something dramatic,” Lourenço said. 39“It’s something normal in democracy. 40Powers come and go.”

41He added, “He’s the one whom Angola and all the countries of the world will have to work with if they are to maintain relations with the United States.”

42This story has been updated with additional developments.

from CNN