Trump offers aid for minerals: US demands resource rights as condition for resuming Africa health assistance

The United States has demanded mining rights from African nations in exchange for resuming health aid, according to new reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported May 31 that the Donald Trump administration required African countries to guarantee US companies access to mineral resources as a condition for receiving aid to fight infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.

The bilateral agreements the administration is seeking go beyond mining rights, sources said, also requiring countries to share medical data with US companies and to increase their own domestic budget contributions to health programs.

Twenty-four sub-Saharan African nations have accepted the terms and signed agreements. The Democratic Republic of Congo concluded a minerals deal with the United States and subsequently secured a health aid agreement worth $900 million. Nigeria agreed to protect its Christian communities and will receive $2 billion in aid in return. The condition follows Trump's earlier criticism of the Nigerian government for failing to adequately shield Christians from armed groups.

Some countries, however, have refused US assistance, citing conditions they say are unacceptable. Zimbabwe rejected roughly $325 million in US support, objecting to demands for broad access to its citizens' sensitive health data. Ghana said it would no longer negotiate with the United States over privacy concerns. Zambia is pushing back against conditions attached to a $2 billion aid offer, which include granting rights to develop critical minerals, preferential treatment for US companies and the provision of medical information.

The Trump administration has withheld African health aid, arguing that the previous foreign assistance framework was inefficient. The Department of State said past global health support had been "in effect an open-ended subsidy system," adding that the new agreements are designed to make countries take greater responsibility for their own health systems and reduce their dependence on American taxpayers.

The approach has drawn criticism in Congress as well. Democratic senators, in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said using life-saving medical assistance as a bargaining chip to secure US companies' access to mines "runs counter to a long bipartisan tradition."