Trump’s foreign and domestic policy goals clash in Africa — can he thread this needle?

Donald Trump’s approach to Africa has shown potential but is reaching a critical point.  

The president’s focus on pursuing greater economic and security cooperation with key countries has gained traction but is clashing with competing domestic priorities, like immigration and tariffs. If the administration cannot reconcile these goals, it risks leaving massive opportunities on the table.  

Trump’s recently concluded July summit with five West African leaders has many of the characteristics of his second-term Africa strategy thus far — direct and transactional, with a focus on areas where interests converge. This strategy has shown substantial promise, albeit unfulfilled.  

For example, U.S. diplomacy between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda has, for now, limited fighting in their conflict-stricken border area while creating potential opportunities for U.S. investment and critical mineral access as part of a broader peace framework. Such access would conveniently also help the United States diminish Chinese dominance of several critical minerals found in the region. 

The small U.S.-Africa summit focused on a handful of countries — Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal — that can provide the administration a big “bang for its buck.” All five countries play various roles in Trump’s key priorities: combating Chinese influence, stemming migration, accessing critical minerals, and containing the spread of Salafi-jihadi terror groups. They also highlight the central tension of the Trump administration’s Africa policy, where foreign policy goals and domestic priorities compete. 

In Gabon, greater U.S. investment and defense cooperation can address two of Trump’s objectives: critical minerals and China. The United States has an opportunity to support Gabonese efforts to grow its domestic refining capacity to counter China’s outsized influence on the manganese market, which multiple U.S. agencies list as a critical mineral due to its role in steel production and lithium-ion battery manufacturing. Gabon has little domestic refinement capabilities, exporting most of its manganese to China. China has the second-largest manganese reserves and is largest manganese consumer but is heavily reliant on imports, 22 percent of which come from Gabon. However, Gabon has made it a priority to boost domestic refining capacity and courted U.S. investment to help reach this goal. 

Greater economic engagement opens other opportunities to counter China. Gabon is a top target of Chinese efforts to secure an Atlantic coast naval base, and the two countries conducted joint naval exercises earlier in 2025. However, Gabon’s president has so far rejected China’s base overtures and tried to balance ties with the West. Gabonese forces have also participated in numerous U.S.-led exercises and training programs over the last decade. 

Stronger partnerships with Mauritania and Senegal can also address two of Trump’s other key objectives: migration and terrorism. Mauritania and Senegal have become a growing destination for migrants attempting to reach Europe and — to a lesser extent — the United States. Both countries are also next-door to the “epicenter” of global terrorism, where strengthening al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates “could have the capacity to attack the homeland,” according to U.S. officials.

The United States should coordinate with its European partners and build upon pre-existing ties with Mauritania and Senegal to address these shared challenges. On migration, the United States can augment the efforts of the European Union, which has already invested hundreds of millions of dollars into both countries to address the root drivers of migration and help security forces contain illegal migration. The United States and European allies should build upon preexisting defense cooperation with both countries to help address shared security concerns, especially given the terror groups increasingly pose a direct threat to Mauritania and Senegal. 

Looking beyond the countries that attended the summit, Trump has said he wants to revive peace talks in Sudan. Doing so would bolster Trump's status as a peacemaker, help address the world's largest humanitarian and migrant crisis, and support his Red Sea strategy by containing opportunistic Iranian and Russian efforts to access Sudan's Red Sea coast. U.S. officials should use their peace efforts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a template and bring key external actors — namely the United Arab Emirates, which is a major U.S. defense partner and a critical backer of one of the warring sides — to the table. Doing so will help limit the scale of the violence and create space for the U.S. to bring in other partners to help engage the Sudanese factions. 

But amid these many opportunities to pursue peace, power and prosperity in Africa, there are clear tension points with Trump’s “America First” domestic agenda.

The president’s tariffs undermine his “trade, not aid” and “equal partnership” mantras, which encourage other countries to turn to China. Beijing continues to give nearly the entire continent non-tariff access to its markets, which grows the already sizeable gap between Chinese and U.S. trade figures with Africa. The Trump administration and Congress should consider ways to save and improve the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which has given African countries tariff-free access to U.S. markets for 25 years, instead of killing it altogether. Trump himself said he would “look into” saving the program during the recent summit. 

On migration, some U.S. policies have further undermined Trump’s narrative of an equal U.S.-Africa partnership. Multiple African officials condemned visa restrictions and tariffs as unacceptable and counterproductive during the U.S.-Africa business summit in June. This backlash highlights that U.S. officials should seek to limit the damage hardline policies in this area have on commercial and diplomatic ties with Africa.

The administration’s push to have African countries accept third-nation migrants deported from the United States, while threatening two-thirds of the continent with a travel ban, also appears lopsided. 

The administration has a chance to fine-tune aid cuts and travel restrictions in ways that support the president’s Africa agenda. Saving a program like Power Africa, which supported energy and internet projects, is one clear opportunity. The United States can help African countries generate the electricity they need to boost critical mineral production and refinement and secure American access to resources in places such as Gabon. Growing the number of African student visas — where China has a numbers advantage — is another way to ensure the United States is building ties with the continent’s best and brightest, as Africa’s youth boom positions it to emerge as a major force in the coming decades. 

The first six months of Trump’s second term have shown the promise of Trump’s approach to the continent. But U.S.-Africa relations do not take place in a vacuum. Trump will have to continue to thread the needle between his domestic agenda and foreign policy goals to fulfill this massive potential and truly redefine U.S.-Africa relations in a way that will leave a lasting legacy.