US Deepens Engagement with Africa’s Mineral Producers to Counter China’s Supply Chain Dominance
The United States is sharpening its focus on Africa’s vast mineral wealth as strategic competition with China over global supply chains moves from rhetoric to execution.
A new round of high-level meetings in Washington in early February has underscored how central African resources have become to U.S. industrial policy, energy transition objectives, and national security planning.
Washington’s renewed engagement comes as China continues to consolidate its dominance across Africa’s mining sector, securing major positions in cobalt and copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and iron ore in Guinea.
U.S. officials are now seeking to rebalance that influence by accelerating direct engagement with African governments and promoting investment-led partnerships involving American companies.
On January 20, the U.S. State Department announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will host the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial on February 4.
The meeting will bring together global partners to coordinate strategies for securing access to minerals critical to electric vehicles, defence systems, and clean energy technologies.
The department said resilient mineral supply chains are essential to U.S. economic security, technological leadership, and a sustainable energy future.
Senior government officials and mining executives from several African countries are expected to attend. According to The Africa Report, delegations from the DRC, Kenya, and Guinea will be present, with DRC President Félix Tshisekedi attending alongside Mining Minister Louis Watum Kabamba and Gécamines chairman Guy-Robert Lukama.
The ministerial follows a high-level finance meeting convened by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, where representatives from the European Union, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and Mexico discussed ways to secure strategic mineral supply chains outside China’s control.
Former U.S. special envoy J. Peter Pham, now chair of U.S.-based mining company Ivanhoe Atlantic, said Washington is increasingly prioritising African countries that can support reliable, investor-friendly mining projects.
He noted that governments able to present verified mineral assets and bankable development proposals are more likely to secure U.S. backing, as Washington shifts away from aid-driven engagement toward commercially viable partnerships.
This approach was evident recently when the Congolese government submitted detailed data on its mineral reserves to U.S. authorities, laying the groundwork for advancing a minerals cooperation framework initially agreed under the Trump administration.
Last week, President Tshisekedi’s administration also submitted a shortlist of state-owned assets—including cobalt, copper, manganese, gold, and lithium—for evaluation by U.S. investors.
Kenya is also emerging as a potential new frontier after Shanta Gold announced a discovery valued at more than $5 billion, reinforcing its appeal as U.S.–China competition increasingly plays out across Africa’s extractive sector.
China’s influence remains substantial. Guinea’s Simandou iron ore project, one of the world’s largest untapped deposits, recently shipped its first cargo to China, highlighting Beijing’s deep integration into Africa’s mining value chains.
At the same time, the United States has stepped up diplomatic engagement, with senior Africa bureau official Nick Checker travelling to Conakry in January for the inauguration of President Mamadi Doumbouya, according to The Africa Report.
In the DRC, despite ongoing insecurity in the eastern regions, the government is moving quickly to position itself as a central player in Washington’s emerging minerals strategy.
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