Judul : Boakai Stole the Show At Trump's African Summit - but Implications
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Boakai Stole the Show At Trump's African Summit - but Implications
Over the past week, the West African nation of Liberia was widely reported in the news around the globe, while social media literally exploded - especially in Africa - when United States President Donald Trump held a three-day summit with leaders of five African countries in Washington from July 9-11, 2025.
Leading media networks around the world, including CNN, BBC, France 24 television, went agog with a series of reports from President Trump's first summit with African leaders, which have generated mixed public reactions on social media. Most of the reactions on social media reflect disappointment and outrage in Africa and the African Diaspora- regarding Trump's commendation of Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai for speaking "such beautiful" English, and what was also seen to be a disrespectful manner in which some of the African leaders were treated by being told to cut short their remarks due to time factors.
The White House setting for the African summit was similar to that of Trump's top-rated competition reality show on American national television in the 2000s - The Apprentice. Like The Apprentice, which is believed to have elevated the reality TV magnet's public profile and enabled Trump to successfully run for the presidency, the U.S. President and the African leaders were seated on opposite side of a conference table, in the glare of the global media, which then relayed the happenings around the world.
Addressing the visiting African leaders during a White House luncheon at the beginning of the summit, President Trump highlighted some key issues to be discussed with the African leaders, including changes in US immigration policies and also a shift from aid (US economic assistance) to trade (economic ties).
According to the globally renowned Reuters news agency, President Trump told the African leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal that he was shifting the U.S. approach to the continent from aid to trade, and that the United States is a better partner for Africa than China - regarded to be the leading U.S. rival in the world.
Reuters reported that Trump has already shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) - the principal U.S. agency that provides foreign assistance and development aids to countries around the world, in order to promote economic growth, democracy, and human rights, among others. According to reports, the cut in US assistance to African countries, which are already struggling due to serious global economic challenges, could have devastating impacts across the continent.
For example, National Public Radio (NPR), one of the largest and most influential media networks in the United States, has reported that 14 million lives could be lost in Africa due to aid cuts by the Trump administration.
So, it was against this background of uncertainty regarding U.S.-Africa relations that President Trump convened his summit with the African leaders, which was also seen in some international quarters as an attempt to tamper China and Russia's rapidly growing influence on the continent, which is giving them more access to the abundant natural resources with which Africa is very well endowed.
Following President Trump's speech during the luncheon, each of the five African presidents was given the opportunity to make brief remarks. And this was the beginning of what many regarded to be those awkward moments that generated news headlines and reports around the world, while social media literally exploded with reactions from people around the globe, especially from Africa and the African Diaspora.
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai of Liberia, accompanied by his Foreign Minister, Madam Sara Beysolow Nyanti, was among the five African leaders at the White House luncheon. As President Boakai made his brief remarks, he barely concluded when President Trump chimed in and complimented Boakai on his "beautiful English."
Visibly surprised and apparently moved by Boakai's eloquence, Trump asked Boakai three times where he (Boakai) possibly could have learned such good English. "Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?" the US President inquired. "Where," he pressed, "were you educated? In Liberia?" Leaning forward and gazing into the eyes of Boakai, who was seated almost in front of him from across the conference table, Trump then concluded, "That's very interesting. I have people at this table who can't speak nearly as well as you do."
Before his exchange with President Boakai, the characteristically blunt and outspokenTrump, who is also known for his unpredictability, had interrupted a couple of the African leaders to cut short their remarks due to time factors. This has irritated viewers, especially from Africa, who watched videos from the White House event - as public reactions in the comment sections of those posts reflect.
In his brief remarks, President Boakai eloquently articulated that Liberia would like to have more U.S. involvement by investing in Liberia's private sector, and also that his country is interested in working with the U.S. in the maintenance of peace and security in the African region - something to which post-war Liberia is very seriously committed.
However, President Trump's compliment that Boaka speaks English so well, even inquiring where Boakai could have possibly learned such good English, did not go down well with most Africans and people of African descent. It has been generally argued that Trump's comments reflect a deeper misunderstanding of Africa, especially Liberia, which was founded in 1822 by freed men and women of color from the United States. For example, English, which is Liberia's official language, is spoken with an American accent, while Liberia's national flag bears close resemblance to the flags of the State of Texas and the United States of America, respectively. It is also interesting to note that the country's capital, Monrovia, is named after James Monroe, the fifth president of the US, who played a critical role in the founding of Liberia.
As part of the global media blitz Liberia has experienced in the wake of the White House engagement between the American and Liberian Presidents, the BBC published a report titled: "Six things Trump should know about Liberia after he praised leader's 'good English:'
These include that Liberia gained her independence in 1847 as Africa's first independent republic, and also that former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who won a Nobel Peace Prize, was Africa's first democratically elected female president on the entire continent.
Despite the mixed reactions the engagements between the two presidents have generated, Liberia's Foreign Minister Nyanti denied that it was an awkward moment, saying there was a "lack of understanding" around the world about the languages people speak in Africa, which she described as a "multi-lingual continent."
Liberia happens to have the American-English intonation and I believe President Trump heard something familiar in the way President Boakai spoke, which is different from the way others speak on the continent," she told the BBC's Newsday program.
"We are not offended at all," said Madam Nyanti, who served as assistant secretary general of the United Nations before becoming Foreign Minister of Liberia. She added that away from the TV cameras, there was a discussion of the two countries' shared history.
Considering that interpersonal relationships are critical for successful diplomacy or international engagements, I recommend that President Boakai take advantage of the opportunity the White House engagements present to establish a good working relationship with President Trump, similar to the type of relationships President Sirleaf had with US President George Bush and Barack Obama during their respective administrations. This would help to further advance Liberia's national and international interests.
That the Liberian government must seriously consider the need to consult U.S. immigration lawyers or experts before acceding to the Trump administration's immigration program to accept third country deportees.
In the wake of President Trump's first Africa summit, I have spoken with a number of high profile Liberian and international personalities. Among them is a U.S. immigration lawyer, who has alerted that Liberia receiving third country deportees has implications for Liberians in the United States. The lawyer added that a country that can take in deported third country nationals can take in its own citizens on DED in the U.S.
According to the lawyer, the rationale for continuing the DED was that Liberia was not able to accept all of its citizens on TPS back into the country after the end of the civil war. Therefore, the lawyer added, if Liberia began accepting third country deportees, it weakens the argument that the country is not able to accept Liberians formerly on TPS and now on DED.
It may be recalled that since 1991, the U.S. has provided safe haven for Liberians who were forced to flee their country as a result of the brutal civil war by granting them Temporary Protected States (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). On June 28, 2024, then President Joe Biden issued a memorandum extending eligibility for DED to June 30, 2026.
The question arising is, what benefits, guarantees or assurances would thousands of Diaspora Liberians estimated to be on DED get in exchange if Liberia agrees to receive third country deportees. There is also a need for the Liberian government to give serious consideration to the security implications of receiving third country deportees.
About the Author: Gabriel I.H. Williams is a career journalist, author and former Liberian diplomat to the United States. He can be reached at [email protected].
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Tagged: Liberia, United States, Canada and Africa, West Africa, External Relations
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