The Reason Trump Invited 5 African Presidents To White House 

Donald Trump at the White House lunch meeting with the African leaders on Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Source: Africa Publicity

On Wednesday, July 9, 2025, American President, Donald J. Trump started a three-day U.S.Africa Summit.

 

“Trade, not aid” or discussion on “commercial opportunities” is the main focus of the meetings.

 

President hosted a working lunch in Washington DC with five West African leaders.

 

The Presidents of Senegal, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, and Mauritania, were those invited to the meeting with Trump.

 

According to a White House official cited by CNN, discussions during the lunch meeting focused on “commercial opportunities.”

 

CNN quoted the unnamed White House official as saying: “This discussion and lunch dialog with African heads of state was arranged because President Trump believes that African countries offer incredible commercial opportunities which benefit both the American people and our African partners,”

 

Leaders of Africa’s big players, such as its largest economies South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia, were not invited to the meeting.

 

The five West African Presidents joined Trump for lunch in the State Dining Room, where each leader went around the table thanking Trump for his invitation.

 

President Trump is also using the meetings to push his policy of “trade, not aid.”

 

 

During a televised lunch at the White House on Wednesday, the African Presidents encouraged US-Africa economic partnership.

 

 

Mauritania President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was the first of the five African Presidents, to speak at the lunch meeting on Wednesday.

 

President Ghazouani praised Trump for spearheading world peace, telling the American leader,

“In the short time you’ve been back in office, the last few months you came to the rescue for peace.”

 

He says “You rushed to Africa to resolve a longstanding problem,” referring to a peace deal between Dr Congo and Rwanda facilitated by the White House.

 

 

Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye praised Trump’s golf skills, inviting him to build a golf course in Senegal.

 

“Thank you very much. Very nice. Thank you. I didn’t know I’d be treated this nicely. This is great,” Trump responded. “We could do this all day long.”

 

Away from peace and golf talks, the five African Presidents spoke about their respective natural resources and raw materials, including rare earth minerals. Some made direct appeals to US investors and the president.

 

Faye spoke about the prospect of building a “tech city” in Dakar with “views of the sea”, and said: “I would like to invite American investors to take part in this”.

 

Gabon President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema told Trump that Gabon has “a great deal of resources”, including rare earth minerals.

 

Nguema says “You are welcome to come and invest, otherwise other countries might come instead of you.”