Trump White House Further Exposes Its Racism and Ignorance During Visit by Five West African Leaders

Liberian President Joseph Boakai was asked about his English-speaking capability while his country was established by the United States in 1847

By Abayomi Azikiwe

Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Wednesday July 23, 2025

Geostrategic Review

Five heads-of-state from West African countries were invited to the White House to meet with United States President Donald Trump.

These leaders were Presidents Joseph Boakai of Liberia; Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania; Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal; Brice Clotaire Nguema of Gabon; and Umaro Cissoko Embalo of Guinea-Bissau.

This invitation took place amid the massive round-up, detentions and deportations of people of color, including Africans, by the Trump administration as a cornerstone of their domestic policy. The arrests, detentions, torture and deportations of migrants are not limited to people with Latin American and Caribbean ancestry. People who were born on the African continent and have migrated to the United States directly or circuitously through Mexico, Central and South America, are also being victimized by the domestic and foreign policies of the Trump administration. 

In addition, there have been unprecedented cuts in humanitarian aid from the U.S. to African states having a negative impact on economic development, healthcare, scientific research and political stability. Other measures having a negative impact on Africa are the imposition of 10-50 % tariffs by the White House, a process which has been shifting over the last six months. 

Moreover, of the dozens of countries subjected to travel bans by the White House into the U.S., a disproportionate number of these states are members of the African Union (AU) based in Ethiopia. No European counties have been listed in these bans illustrating the racist character of Washington’s domestic and foreign policy. 

The renewal of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which was enacted during the last year of the administration of former President Bill Clinton in 2000, may not be renewed by the U.S. Congress in September. This bill provided for the targeted production and imports of goods produced on the African continent. 

In Lesotho, a country attacked by Trump in his rambling speech before a joint session of Congress, has been hit with 50% tariffs by the U.S. prompting the closure of garment factories resulting in the layoffs of over 55,000 workers. The country located in Southern Africa, has declared an economic “state of emergency” in efforts to address the rising jobless rates, particularly among the youth of the country. 

ECOWAS Leaders and Others in the White House Subjected to Racist Insults

These five African states with relatively small populations were invited to meet with Trump, while other countries in the same region have been attacked by the U.S. and its ally France. The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) has been threatened with regime change by the outgoing U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) director General Michael Langley, who singled out the political and ideological leader of Burkina Faso, Capt. Ibrahim Traore. 

Three of the leaders present at the White House meeting were members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a previously 15-member regional organizations which was formed fifty years ago. Due to differences over relations with France and the U.S., three states led by military administrations have broken with ECOWAS and formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). Although ECOWAS claimed that its differences with the AES members has its origins in the usurpation of power by the military within these states, there are obviously more substantive disagreements related to nationalization of resources and foreign policy orientations related to the Russian Federation.

The Republic of Liberia located in West Africa is the oldest “formally” independent state on the continent being declared a sovereign entity in 1847. This nation was founded in response to the failure of the U.S. to integrate manumitted Africans who had been brought into the North America region through the Atlantic Slave Trade. 

Although the nation-state of Liberia was created by the U.S. government alongside Africans freed from enslavement in the U.S. and that English is the official language of the country, Trump asked President Joseph Boakai: where did he learn to speak such good English. Such a condescending remark whether from ignorance or a paternalistic impulse, is a clear reflection of the lack of sincerity on the part of the administration. 

In the past prior to the decimation of the personnel at the State Department through the layoffs carried out by the Trump White House, there were people assigned to compile briefing papers for presidents before meetings with foreign leaders. Although the State Department briefings on African affairs often provided a rationale for continued imperialist and neo-colonial arrangements between Washington and the African continent, it would seem that these so-called “experts” would have avoided embarrassing and ridiculous questions from the head-of-state of the world’s most powerful imperialist government. 

Irrespective of the vast natural resources of these five West African states, the U.S. has no intentions of initiating a fundamental shift towards trade policies which would be in the interests of the people of the region. The governments within the AES which have signed their own cooperation agreements related to regional security, natural resources and foreign policy. 

These developments within the AES are representative of the mass sentiment among the people which are calling for revolutionary change in the West Africa region. 

On the Question of Deportations to “Third-Party Countries”

One issue raised by the White House with the five West African leaders was the Trump administration’s policy of deporting migrants from the U.S. to other states in which they did not originate. El Salvador in Central America has been a source for these deportations where people are illegally detained and tortured.

There are reports that the U.S. has already deported people to South Sudan and Eswatini. It is not clear what the nationalities of those deported are. The leader of Guinea-Bissau, President Umaro Cissoko Embalo, rejected this suggestion during their visit to Washington. 

According to a report published by Cable News Network (CNN):

“’The US is mounting considerable pressure on African countries to accept Venezuelans to be deported from the U.S., some straight out of prison,’ Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, said in a televised interview last week, citing Washington’s announcement of increased tariffs and recent reductions in the validity of visas. The U.S. Mission in Nigeria insisted visa changes were ‘not the result of any nation’s stance on third-country deportees’ but rather ‘to safeguard US immigration systems.’” (https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/africa/africa-eswatini-trump-us-deportees-intl)

Opposition forces in Eswatini, formerly the Kingdom of Swaziland, have denounced the reports that people are being deported there from the detention centers of the U.S. In a statement issued by the Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS), an opposition group which has fought for the imposition of a democratic political system in the only absolute monarchy still remaining on the African continent, the organization condemned the leader Mswati III for agreeing to such a policy decision by the White House.

In the statement posted on its Facebook page, it says that:

“The Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) expresses grave concern over the recent deportation of foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes to Swaziland by the United States. This development raises significant ethical, legal, and humanitarian issues that demand immediate attention and scrutiny. The deal between the USA and despot Mswati is an international relations scandal. The deportation of individuals convicted of violent crimes to Mswati, a country not their own, appears to contravene international human rights principles. The CPS condemns any practice that bypasses fair legal processes and exposes host nations to undue risks. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow such deportations without providing individuals the opportunity to argue against potential harm sets a dangerous precedent…. The CPS urges human rights organizations, regional bodies, and the international community to condemn this policy shift and advocate for the rights of deportees and host nations. The CPS stands in solidarity with affected individuals and calls for a global dialogue on ethical deportation practices that respect human dignity and international law.” (https://www.facebook.com/CPSwaziland)

These developments further expose the unequal character of relations between African states and the imperialist countries. Africa remains a victim of the historical exploitation and oppression from the Atlantic Slave Trade to Colonialism and Neo-colonialism. 

The only real solution to underdevelopment lies within a revolutionary transformation of the domestic and foreign policy imperatives of the AU member-states towards the U.S. and its imperialist allies. Africa unity must be based upon anti-imperialism, Revolutionary Pan-Africanism and continental unification under a scientific socialist system.