This foreign leader crawled on hands and knees to beg Trump for one favor
The world knows America is back in the driver’s seat. And now others want to capitalize on it.
And this foreign leader crawled on hands and knees to beg Trump for one favor.
A Bold Proposal from the Congo to Trump
In a surprising diplomatic move, President Félix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo penned a letter to President Donald Trump in February, dangling a tantalizing minerals deal in return for a U.S. security pact to oust violent rebels plaguing his conflict-ravaged nation.
“Your election has ushered in the golden age for America,” Tshisekedi wrote, according to a Wednesday scoop by the Wall Street Journal. “Our partnership would provide the U.S. with a strategic advantage by securing critical minerals such as cobalt, lithium, copper and tantalum from the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
The Congo sits on a staggering $20 trillion mineral jackpot—think gold, copper, and more—per the Congo-based Panzi Foundation. It’s also the globe’s top cobalt supplier, a must-have for defense tech, aerospace, and the batteries powering electric vehicles and smartphones. Tshisekedi’s pitch? A “formal security pact” to help Congo’s forces crush the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, with a juicy minerals deal as the sweetener, the Journal reports.
Minerals for Peace: The Congo Plan
Details on what this security pact might entail remain sketchy in Tshisekedi’s letter. But a spokeswoman for the Congolese leader told the Wall Street Journal that the Congo “is interested in partnering with the Trump administration to end the conflict and stop the flow of blood minerals via Rwanda.”
She added, “It is in both our interests that American companies – like Apple and Tesla – buy minerals direct from source in the DRC and unlock the engine of our mineral wealth for the benefit of all the world.”
The backdrop is a decades-long feud with neighboring Rwanda, from the First Congo War (1996-1997) to the Second (1998-2003), and now a fresh flare-up since 2022. The stakes? Control over the Congo’s resource riches and M23’s claim to shield ethnic minorities from the government.
In January, the rebels snatched Goma, North Kivu’s biggest city, amid escalating clashes that claimed 13 U.N. peacekeepers and foreign troops.
On Fox News with Bret Baier Wednesday, Tshisekedi laid out his vision: jobs through mineral extraction and a U.S. alliance for enduring peace.
“We want to extract these minerals but also process them, as this would create a lot of jobs,” he told Baier. “And we want a partnership that will provide lasting peace and stability for our countries, which we need.”
China’s hefty footprint in the Congo’s cobalt mines? No sweat, he shrugged to Baier. “Nature abhors a vacuum, as the saying goes,” Tshisekedi quipped. “It’s not that China is waxing in Africa. It’s more that America is waning in Africa… and we would be very happy to have our American friends here, who used to be more present than China in the ‘70s and ’80s.”
Geopolitical Chess: Allies and Ambitions
Tshisekedi’s not stopping at Trump. He’s also in talks with Erik Prince—ex-Blackwater chief and Trump confidant—to possibly bolster the Congo’s war efforts with private military muscle, per the Wall Street Journal. Fox News Digital pinged the White House for a take on the offer but got crickets so far.
This isn’t Trump’s first minerals rodeo. His administration previously eyed a similar deal with Ukraine—loaded with lithium and copper—to offset aid costs in its war with Russia.
That plan hit a snag after a frosty February Oval Office clash between Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump, and VP JD Vance. Now, the Congo’s rolling the dice, betting its mineral wealth can lure America back into the African game.
