WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden began a long-promised trip to Africa on last night when he traveled to Angola for a visit aimed at acknowledging the long and painful history between the two nations while committing to a future of economic investment.
Biden’s trip to Africa is the first by an American president since Barack Obama traveled to Kenya and Ethiopia in 2015.
The visit, likely Biden’s last overseas trip during his time in office, comes after he pledged in 2022 to visit the continent to make clear that the United States was “all in on Africa’s future.” After multiple delays, Biden is conducting a three-day diplomatic tour of Angola, where he will visit a slavery museum and spotlight a rail corridor that his aides point to as a primary example of his administration’s economic strategy in the region.
The $1 billion project, known as the Lobito Corridor, would link Angola with Zambia and Congo, nations rich with the critical minerals used to make batteries for smartphones and electric vehicles. By highlighting the project, Biden is trying to cement efforts to expand American access to the critical resources in Africa and, in effect, compete with China’s growing influence on the continent.
Despite the Biden administration’s friendly appeals, however, the United States still lags behind China and Russia in competing for economic and security influence in Africa, according to foreign policy experts.
“A dirty little secret, ever since we disengaged with post-colonial Africa: It has been our lowest priority,” said Tibor P. Nagy Jr., who was twice appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as an ambassador in Africa and then by the Trump administration to serve as assistant secretary of state for African affairs. “You have some administrations like this one, that come out with grandiose African strategies that are absolutely aspirational. But it is like the old advertisement: Where is the beef?”
As proof of his administration’s commitment, Biden is expected to announce a variety of investments in global health, agriculture and security cooperation during the trip. He will celebrate a U.S. government initiative that has connected American and Angolan businesses for deals totaling $6.9 billion. But the lifespan of such commitments will also hinge on the will of President-elect Donald Trump, who once disparaged African nations with an expletive.
In an interview with The New York Times, President João Lourenço of Angola said he was not concerned about the change of administrations in the United States.
“We don’t need to make any speculation for now,” Lourenço said. “So we cannot judge him on what he said, but we will judge him on what he will do.”
Biden will make a brief stop Monday in Cape Verde, where he will meet with Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva and express his gratitude for the nation’s support of Ukraine in its fight against Russia, according to U.S. officials.
On Tuesday, Biden will go to the National Slavery Museum near the Angolan capital, Luanda, to highlight how the relationship between the two nations originates in the slave trade. Historians believe that people from Angola accounted for among the largest numbers of enslaved Africans shipped to the United States.
Biden’s visit should bolster Lourenço’s efforts to build a global tourism campaign centered on that history. Biden is planning to endorse the Angola government’s application to declare the Cuanza River corridor, where enslaved people were taken, a UNESCO World Heritage site, according to administration officials. Biden will also speak about the promising future between the United States and Angola, which was once a Cold War rival.
On Wednesday, Biden will tour the Lobito Corridor, which his aides maintain is not just a means of expanding U.S. access to critical minerals but also a way for Angolan farmers to reach markets in neighboring nations and effectively expand food security in the region.
But in Angola, some residents said they were torn between the reality of China’s ubiquitous presence and the less visible investment of the United States.
Working at a cellphone kiosk in China City — a Chinese-built shopping complex in Luanda that extends for several blocks — Dalia Javela, 25, counted her job as one of the advantages of Beijing’s presence.
“I think the Chinese came to help,” Javela said.
She had never met anyone from the United States and did not know what, if any, involvement the country had in Angola. Yet she had caught wind that Biden was coming to visit.
“At least he will be able to see how we live,” Javela said. “Our way of life.”
Antonio Andrade, a deputy administrator for Cubal, an agricultural town about two hours from Benguela that is along the Lobito Corridor, said he hoped the attention from Biden would encourage more nations to work with Angola. But he questioned why it had taken so long for Angola to be prioritized.
“We should have had this partnership before with USA,” Andrade said.