In recent years, Africa has shifted from a peripheral concern to a strategic priority in US foreign policy, driven less by traditional development or democratic promotion goals than by heightened competition over supply-chain security and critical minerals. In 2025, the US has attempted to intensify its focus on mineral-rich regions such as eastern Congo and West Africa, while adopting a broader, more transactional mineral strategy across the continent. US mineral policy in Africa reflects a durable strategic shift rather than a temporary reaction to isolated crises. By tying together critical minerals within national security and industrial policy, Washington has repositioned Africa as a key strategic partner. This approach, now explicitly embedded in the latest National Security Strategy (NSS) that was published in December 2025, reflects a growing alignment between mineral access and national security imperatives. Although the NSS has unsettled European observers, it largely formalises the rhetoric and policy trajectory advanced by the US administration over the past year.
Download e-Note 86Research line: Sahel and Sub-Saharan Africa
President Donald Trump, President Paul Kagame of the Republic of Rwanda, and President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, sign Washington Accords for Peace
Source photo: © U.S. Government (CC Attribution 3.0 US License)
e-Note 86
One Year into Trump 2.0: Resource-Rich Africa More Prominent in US Strategy