Lobito Corridor: US Envoy’s Model for Africa Ties Draws Both Praise and Skepticism
When Frank Garcia, a veteran naval officer, was confirmed this week by the U.S. Senate as assistant secretary of state for African affairs, he used the moment to champion what he called a new chapter in Washington's engagement with the continent – one built on “trade and investment for mutual benefit.”
Speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 5, Garcia singled out the Lobito Corridor – a strategically positioned 1,300-kilometer (810-mile) rail and transport route linking Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito to the mineral-rich Copperbelt region spanning the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia – as a model for this reoriented approach.
Though the initial memorandum of understanding was signed under the Biden administration, it was the Trump administration that mobilized funds in 2025. Garcia described the project as squarely aligned with core U.S. national interests and the “America First” doctrine.
Garcia, now holding one of Washington’s most consequential diplomatic posts in Africa, stressed that job creation, regional integration, and expanded commercial ties would take priority over humanitarian assistance. The latter, he said, should be evaluated based on its contribution to U.S. national security and economic goals.
To its supporters, the Lobito Corridor represents a rare instance of U.S. investment boosting Africa’s regional trade, generating employment, and upgrading infrastructure while opening new opportunities for American businesses. Critics, however, argue that the project primarily serves Washington’s drive to secure alternative supply chains for critical minerals essential to electric vehicles, clean energy technologies, and defense – a push they say risks deepening regional instability and conflict.
“There is a real danger that the corridor exacerbates the crises [in conflict-torn African nations], rather than offering solutions,” said Mike Jennings, professor of global development at SOAS University of London, in an interview with Al Jazeera. “Its implementation feels very neocolonial in practice, spirit and objectives.”
The Lobito Corridor traces its roots to the Benguela Railway, first built in 1902 as a colonial trade artery to funnel raw minerals from inland Africa to European and American markets. Originally controlled by British mining and railway company Tanganyika Concessions, the infrastructure reverted to Angola’s government after the former Portuguese colony gained independence in 1975. But a 27-year civil war left less than 3 percent of the railway operational by 2002.
China later rebuilt the railway through a $2 billion rail-for-oil agreement. In 2023, the Lobito Atlantic Railway consortium – comprising Trafigura, Mota-Engil, and Vecturis SA – secured a 30-year concession. The U.S. government committed billions to boost the corridor’s capacity and lower transport costs for critical minerals. In 2022, under President Joe Biden, the U.S., EU, and G7 partners signed a pact pledging $600 billion for infrastructure over five years, with the U.S. contributing $200 billion.
Today, the corridor is one of five major trade, transit, and development routes in Southern Africa. Its upgrade aims to dramatically cut the time and cost of moving copper, cobalt, lithium, and nickel from Central Africa to global markets – placing it at the heart of intensifying geopolitical competition for resources powering the green energy transition.
Locally, supporters highlight opportunities for farmers, artisans, and small-scale miners hoping to export their goods. The project is also seen as a potential catalyst for new forms of cooperation among governments, development partners, and companies, with an emphasis on integrated supply chains.
Jennings acknowledged the need for better transport links across Africa. “Developing these is an important focus for infrastructure development that could – if done appropriately – support African economic growth and transformation,” he said. “However, a big question is whether the Lobito Corridor is actually going to do this in the way it is being developed.”
The corridor’s strategic importance has only grown amid the U.S.-China rivalry. In December 2024, just before Trump took office, Biden made his first bilateral trip to Africa as president, visiting Angola partly to discuss support for the Lobito Corridor – a trip widely seen as an effort to counter Beijing’s expanding influence, as China overtook the U.S. as Africa’s largest trade partner in 2013.
While Trump did not abandon the project, he reframed it. Under Biden, the Lobito Corridor was a flagship climate-transition project linked to the EU’s Global Gateway. Under Trump, it has been redefined as a tool to counter China’s dominance, tighten U.S. control over critical materials, and diversify supply chains.
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), created during Trump’s first term, pledged a $550 million loan and later signed a $753 million financing package. DFC CEO Ben Black called the package “unprecedented in its scale and strategic significance,” adding that the investments “help secure reliable supply chains and prevent monopolization by China and other strategic competitors.”
Yet Jennings warned the corridor appears designed to facilitate extraction from sub-Saharan Africa rather than strengthen intra-regional trade. “It feels more like a continuation of the forms of exploitation of African natural resources than a new, Africa-oriented project,” he said.
The professor also raised concerns about the impact on conflict and displacement. “The fact that it is built around mineral extraction in a country devastated by decades of conflict and instability, in which access to those natural resources has fueled those conflicts and tensions, is deeply concerning,” he said.
Satellite image analysis by the U.K.-based campaign group Global Witness suggests up to 6,500 people could be displaced in the DRC alone due to the corridor’s development. The group’s research found that the railway cuts through vulnerable communities where land and building ownership are contested, and the scope of clearance remains unclear. Global Witness called the Lobito Corridor a “litmus test” for Western partners who claim the project represents a more equitable resource exploitation model.
A United Nations policy document from October 2024 on the corridor’s regional effects flagged potential future challenges, including environmental damage, land and community conflicts, and health, gender, and human rights-related risks. It urged the three African governments and stakeholders to establish processes to “address adverse human rights impacts and abuses, including any cross-border business-related human rights harms.”
Jennings concluded that while transport infrastructure is needed, the Lobito Corridor “doesn’t feel to be an answer to these needs … It is focused on external – especially, but not only, U.S. – strategic and economic interests, not those of the communities and people who will be most affected by its operation.”