DRC arms for minerals deal amid Trump tariffs

MEDIA reports that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has sought to negotiate an arms-for-minerals deal with the US at a time when Washington has imposed unilateral tariffs targeting both allies and opponents.

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Media reports suggest that the US-DRC deal could be modelled along the lines of the US-Ukraine deal, a transactional bilateral arrangement upon which the US would provide security support in exchange for critical minerals and rare earth metals.

While the DRC faces a desperate security situation and has alluded to the need to diversify its partners, the Trump administration looks keen to take its transactional model of bilateral, and indeed multilateral, relations to conflict states, trading mineral resources for security needs.

The motivation and timing of the DRC’s overtures towards the US may throw the country into a catch-22. The Trump administration has been very clear about seeking maximum benefits for the US in line with the Trump Administration's America First Agenda by forging transactional relations with partners. At the same time, the DRC is taking a huge gamble which could alienate its traditional trusted partners.

At this juncture, African countries should seek collective solutions to emerging challenges, including in dealing with the chaotic, unpredictable, and transactional policies emerging from Washington.

China has emerged as the major investment and development partner in Africa and the DRC in particular. The Trump Administration has indicated its desire to continue pushing US interests for critical minerals, drawing big power competition and rivalry into the region. The US, through its International Development Finance Corporation, set up during Trump’ first term in 2019, has pledged a $550 million loan to support the Lobito corridor project.

The DRC, Angola, Zambia, and Tanzania are all participating in the Lobito corridor initiative, a $4 billion project which was originally launched by the Biden administration to develop railway infrastructure linking ports in ‘Tanzania through the DRC and Zambia to Angola.