Biden says the U.S. is ‘all in’ on Africa during his Angola visit, meant to counter China
LUANDA, Angola — Speaking of “our nation’s original sin,” President Biden on Tuesday toured a slavery museum in Angola and inspected shackles and a whip but also addressed Africa’s future, saying Africans will make up 1 in 4 people by 2050 and the world’s fate rests in their hands.
Biden’s visit, the first to Angola by a U.S. president, is meant to promote billions of dollars of commitments to the sub-Saharan African nation for what he called the largest U.S. rail investment overseas ever.
“The United States is all in on Africa,” Biden earlier Tuesday told Angolan President João Lourenco, who called Biden’s visit a key turning point in U.S.-Angola relations dating back to the Cold War.
The trip was meant to counter China’s influence on the African continent of more than 1.4 billion people by showcasing a U.S. commitment of $3 billion for the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment linking Zambia, Congo and Angola. China, meanwhile, announced its own move.
The corridor across southern Africa is meant to make it easier to move raw materials for export and advance the U.S. presence in a region rich in crucial minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies.
China already has heavy investments in mining and processing African minerals, and on Tuesday it announced it is banning exports to the United States of gallium, germanium, antimony and other high-tech materials. It came a day after the U.S. expanded its list of Chinese technology companies subject to controls.
President Biden is making his long-awaited visit to sub-Saharan Africa to showcase a U.S.-backed railway project across three countries.
The U.S. for years has built relations in Africa through trade, security and humanitarian aid. The 800-mile railway upgrade is different, with shades of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure strategy in Africa and other parts of the world.
Biden will visit the coastal city of Lobito on Wednesday for a look at the corridor’s Atlantic Ocean outlet. The project also has drawn financing from the European Union, the Group of 7 leading industrialized nations, a Western-led private consortium and African banks.
It was not clear how much of the U.S. commitments had been delivered and how much will depend on the incoming Trump administration.
White House national security spokesperson John F. Kirby said the corridor’s completion is “going to take years.” That means much of it may fall to Donald Trump, who takes office Jan. 20.
Asked whether the project could proceed without support of President-elect Donald Trump and his administration, Kirby said the Biden administration hopes “that they see the value too, that they see how it will help drive a more secure, more prosperous, more economically stable continent.”
Kirby also said the corridor was about more than simply trying to outpace Beijing.
“We’re not asking countries to choose between us and Russia and China. We’re simply looking for reliable, sustainable, verifiable investment opportunities that the people of Angola and the people of the continent can rely on,” he said.
President told dozens of African leaders gathered in Washington the United States is ‘all in on Africa’s future,’ as China’s influence on the continent grows.
One Angolan, 19-year-old Ladislau Ngola, called Biden’s visit “very important for our country, as the Lobito Corridor will create lots of jobs for young people.” Julião Oliveira said ”Africa in general” would benefit, too.
The rainy streets of the capital, Luanda, had a heavy presence of soldiers but few civilians — a striking change from Biden’s arrival on Monday, when cheering onlookers lined his route. Authorities on Tuesday encouraged people to stay home to clear up traffic. As the motorcade passed through outer neighborhoods, crowds waved from rooftops or intersections.
Biden and Lourenco briefly addressed reporters before a closed-door meeting. Biden ignored questions about his decision to issue a pardon for his son after previously pledging not to, and laughed and joked to the Angolan delegation, “Welcome to America.”
He also told Lourenco while pledging to use the trip to listen: “We don’t think, because we’re bigger and more powerful, that we’re smarter. We don’t think we have all the answers.”
Angola’s president said he’d like to see a public-private partnership to increase energy production. He praised Biden’s “vision and leadership” on the Lobito Corridor, saying it would “always be remembered.”
After the meeting, a senior U.S. administration official said China didn’t come up in the talks. The official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a meeting that was not public, said Trump wasn’t mentioned much because Biden did not want to be seen as speaking for him.
A summit of African leaders is taking place this week in Washington, D.C., where the White House on Monday announced a $55-billion commitment to Africa over the next three years across a range of sectors.
The official also said Biden’s visit to Lobito will be joined by the presidents of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Biden had promised to visit Africa last year, after reviving the U.S.-Africa Summit in 2022. But the trip was delayed until this year and pushed back again in October because of Hurricane Milton — reinforcing a sentiment among Africans that their continent is still a low priority for Washington. The last U.S. president to visit sub-Saharan Africa was Barack Obama in 2015. Biden attended a United Nations climate summit in Egypt in North Africa in 2022.
Biden toured Angola’s National Slavery Museum at a site that was formerly the headquarters of the Capela da Casa Grande. The 17th century temple is where slaves were baptized against their will, with their names changed, before boarding ships to America. Angola was the departure point for an estimated 6 million enslaved people, the White House said.
Looking ahead, “I know the future runs through Angola, through Africa,” Biden said.
Speaking by the water, he said that history “cannot and should not be erased,” and that while America was founded on the ideal of freedom and equality, “it’s abundantly clear today we have not lived up to that ideal.”
Weissert writes for the Associated Press. AP journalist John Karlos in Luanda contributed to this report.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
