A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Leaders from several West African nations are in Washington this week, part of a mini summit the White House described as an effort to expand, quote, "commercial opportunities." As NPR's international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam reports, a lunch meeting yesterday combined investment and national security with plenty of flattery.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: The strategy behind the lunch with the leaders of Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal could be emblematic of Trump's view on Africa. Replace aid with trade. Shortly after taking office, Trump slashed foreign aid to the African continent, calling it wasteful money. The summit in Washington was a chance for the small countries to make a pitch for investment opportunities.
Here's Liberian president Joseph Boakai, who told Trump his country has lots of minerals.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRES JOSEPH BOAKAI: We want to encourage American investment in Liberia.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Yeah.
BOAKAI: We'd like to see that happen.
NORTHAM: Some of the African leaders used sweeteners, praising Trump's golf skills and agreeing he should be given a Nobel Peace Prize. But the talks weren't all one way. The U.S. is keen to make inroads into Africa to counter China's growing military presence and vast investments on the continent.
CAMERON HUDSON: I think there's a broad acknowledgment here in Washington that we have been late to the game, that we've taken our eye on the ball.
NORTHAM: Cameron Hudson is an Africa expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He says the administration is making a hard pivot away from aid towards commercial relationships.
HUDSON: Many of us in the kind of Washington community would say that these don't need to come at the expense of the other. You can do both.
NORTHAM: But for many of the leaders at the table, the opportunity for one-on-one face time with the president of the U.S. was worth making a journey just to talk business. Jackie Northam, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF HAUSCHKA'S "SCHONES MADCHEN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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