Corporate Council on Africa Presents: Roundtable Discussion on U.S Critical Minerals Policy and Engagement with Africa

On Wednesday, August 21st, The Corporate Council on Africa hosted a roundtable discussion on “U.S Critical Minerals Policy and Engagement with Africa” with distinguished critical minerals experts from various research institutions, private sector, and U.S government presentative. The roundtable discussion featured: Florizelle Liser (CEO & President of CCA), Zainab Usman (Director of Africa Program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Daniel Travis (Director of Economic and Regional Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs), Derek Campbell (CEO of LVC Global Holdings Ltd), Meredith Broadbent (Senior Advisor at CSIS), Claire Doyle (Program Associate at the Wilson Center on Environmental Change and Security Program), Oge Onubogu (Director of Africa Program at Wilson Center), Justin Underwood (Director of Members Relations at CCA), Tony Caroll (Vice-President at Manchester Trade Ltd.), and other participants. The roundtable started with a brief introduction of each participant and remarks by Florizelle Liser who defined the purpose of the discussion to achieve a consensus on U.S critical minerals policy and engagement with Africa. Tony Carroll explained how the U.S is a large investor in mining companies through equity investments, but rarely through financing directly projects in Africa. Indeed, Derek Campbell mentioned the strategic interests for U.S capital to be deployed into Africa for U.S national security interests, but to also build a resilient supply chain for the energy transition. Zainab Usman argues the need to build a consensus among critical minerals producing countries and stakeholders to benefit from the IRA tax credits, which can improve the sourcing of critical minerals. Daniel Travis stated that the U.S government is still working on a proper approach towards critical minerals and encouraging any kind of sourcing from partners countries. Meredith Broadbent, from CSIS, articulated the need for the U.S to step up its game with critical minerals sourcing and increase its soft power in the continent to counter the growing Chinese influence. Indeed, the need to diversify the supply chain of critical minerals and build partnerships that will help make the US supply chain more resilient in support of the green transition. Claire Doyle expressed the importance of environmental and social safeguards at mining sites to protect the local communities. Oge Onubogu stressed the need for the renewal of AGOA before thinking about revisitation of the architecture of the policy to include critical minerals. However, she also supported the necessity for U.S strategic engagement with Africa, in the critical minerals sphere, for defense and security purposes. In conclusion, the roundtable discussion helped define the point of actions for U.S engagement with Africa for critical minerals and the necessity of the engagement. The participants all agreed to contribute to the drafting of key recommendations for U.S decision-makers on the critical minerals issue.