President Joe Biden is set to follow through on a two-year-old promise by visiting Angola, a trip that highlights U.S. investment in the African continent under his presidency amid China’s push in the region.
Oil-rich Angola will host Biden for a three-day visit as he prepares to hand over the reins to Donald Trump in January. The trip offers Biden an opportunity to strengthen ties with a key U.S. partner in Africa as the continent prepares for the return of Trump, who made disparaging remarks about African countries during his first term.
When Biden arrives in Luanda on Monday, he will become the first sitting president to visit sub-Saharan Africa since 2015, when Barack Obama visited Kenya and Ethiopia. It will also be the first visit by a U.S. president to Angola, a country with which Biden has sought to strengthen relations in recent years.
When he hosted African leaders in Washington for a summit in 2022, Biden promised to visit the continent the following year but ultimately failed to meet that deadline. He had scheduled a visit to Angola for October this year, which was postponed due to two devastating hurricanes in the United States.
Biden’s trip will highlight investments in the Lobito Corridor, an 800-mile rail project backed by the United States and Europe that aims to facilitate the transport of precious minerals from Africa’s interior to Angola’s western port for export.
The initiative is at the heart of the Biden administration’s efforts to boost investment in Africa to counter China’s growing influence in the region, which has surpassed that of the United States. Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects across the continent over the past decade through its Belt and Road Initiative. In September, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $50 billion in financial support for the continent as well as military aid.
Meanwhile, Russia is trying to expand its influence in Africa. The head of the U.S. Africa Command warned Congress in March that Russia is seeking to dramatically increase its presence among African countries, leaving several “on the brink of tipping over” under its influence.
As China and Russia make inroads on the continent, a senior administration official, ahead of the trip, said Biden “put us back on the ground” by “offering this alternative” to China through U.S.-backed investments.
“That’s the choice that’s now before countries in the region, not to have to accept Chinese investment with its lax standards, child labor and corruption — but to have another proposition to compare it to,” the senior official said. “That’s what President Biden wanted: to transform our relationship in the region, to offer a different kind of investment, but with higher standards.”
The Biden administration is seeking to shift its Africa strategy from one of development assistance and charity to targeted investments in specific countries, one senior official said. Administration officials suggested that Biden’s team believes that this policy will continue under future administrations.
“Obviously, I can’t speak for the next administration, but I think there’s good reason to think that some of these initiatives will continue,” a second senior administration official said, adding that the Lobito corridor “is paying off for all of us.”
The United States considers Angola a key partner, cooperating on economic, technological, and scientific initiatives in the region. Angola has played a key role in mediating the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
As he sought to underscore his commitment to Africa, Biden hosted Angolan President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço for a meeting in the Oval Office in 2023, highlighting U.S. investments in the Lobito Corridor and solar energy projects.
“Simply put, a partnership between Angola and America is bigger and more impactful,” Biden said.