The common thread of the Trump administration’s approach to South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (D.R.C.) is a drive to break the BRICS and get preferential access to Africa’s—and the world’s—critical raw materials. This can be broken down into three following categories.
Democratic Republic of Congo: The D.R.C. is suffering from an invasion by Anglo-American proxy Rwanda. D.R.C. President Felix Tshisekedi has appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump for help, offering him a deal for the U.S. to get preferential access to D.R.C. minerals “such as cobalt, lithium, and copper—in exchange for enhanced security assistance and stronger diplomatic backing against foreign involvement in the conflict,” according to The Rwandan, April 2.
A State Department team toured D.R.C. mines in the first days of April, and U.S. mining companies—including the new, high-tech boy on the block, KoBold, backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates—have shown interest, according to the Wall Street Journal on April 4.
In the same days, Trump’s newly appointed Senior Africa Advisor Massad Boulos visited the D.R.C., Rwanda, and neighboring countries to map out a path to peace and U.S. investments. President Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame had already been pressured into meeting face to face in Doha, Qatar, March 18. Tshisekedi and the leader of the Rwandan-backed militia M23 are to meet for direct talks in Doha on April 9. The D.R.C. is not associated with the BRICS.
The South African Case is more complicated. It is a leading member of the BRICS, which Trump’s drive for unipolar hegemony is dedicated to destroying. South Africa is also a leader of Africa as its most industrialized nation, and preaches minerals beneficiation, not export of raw materials.
The hostile U.S.-South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act of 2025, introduced into Congress April 4 as a bill, goes further than the 2024 version (never enacted), but with the same objective—namely to stop South Africa from allegedly undermining “United States national security and foreign policy interests” (H.R.7256, 2025, Sec. 3). The bill empowers the U.S. President to punish South Africa in order to bring it into line with U.S. interests.
What Trump has already done with tariffs is indicative of his raw-materials extraction orientation toward South Africa. While he has put crippling tariffs (25%) on South African-assembled cars and car parts (Ford, Mercedes, VW, BMW, Hyundai, others), many South African raw materials—platinum group metals, coal, gold, manganese and chrome—are excluded from U.S. tariffs, according to Creamer’s Mining Weekly, April 4. (Iron ore and diamonds will be subject to the new tariff schedule.)
The Worldwide Picture: The Wall Street Journal April 4, under the headline, “Minerals Become Ultimate Bargaining Chip in Trump’s Diplomatic Deals,” reports that “President Trump is pressing for access to mineral rights across the globe, hoping to outduel China in a global competition for raw materials to fuel U.S. military and industrial might.
“He has pushed the State Department to make mineral deals that would bolster U.S. industry and weapons, U.S. officials said. He has instructed the Pentagon to plan to refine metals on military bases and protect U.S.-operated mines in dangerous areas, the officials said.”
U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz is leading this campaign for the President, and Senior Africa Adviser Massad Boulos is on board, according to the Wall Street Journal.
