Biden says the US is 'all in' on Africa during his Angola visit meant to counter China
President Joe Biden on Tuesday toured a slavery museum in Angola and inspected shackles and a whip, and he spoke of “our nation’s original sin."
LUANDA, Angola — Speaking of “our nation's original sin,” President Joe Biden on Tuesday toured a slavery museum in Angola and inspected shackles and a whip but also addressed Africa's future, saying Africans will make up one in four people by 2050 and the world's fate rests in their hands.
Biden's visit, the first to Angola by a U.S. president, is meant to promote billions of dollars of commitments to the sub-Saharan African nation for what he called the largest ever U.S. rail investment overseas.
“The United States is all in on Africa," Biden earlier Tuesday told Angolan President João Lourenço, who called Biden's visit a key turning point in U.S.-Angola relations dating back to the Cold War.
But even as the trip was meant to counter China's influence on the African continent of over 1.4 billion people by showcasing a U.S. commitment of $3 billion for the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment linking Zambia, Congo and Angola, China announced its own move.
The corridor across southern Africa is meant to make it easier to ship raw materials for export and advance the U.S. presence in a region rich in critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies.
China already has heavy investments in mining and processing African minerals, and on Tuesday it announced it is banning exports to the United States of gallium, germanium, antimony and other high-tech materials. It came a day after the U.S. expanded its list of Chinese technology companies subject to controls.
The U.S. for years has built relations in Africa through trade,
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