While China and Russia carve up Africa through mining deals and military ties, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is flipping the script. In a letter sent February 2025, President Félix Tshisekedi made a bold ask: U.S. military support in exchange for access to the country’s $24 trillion in minerals. The letter, addressed to President Donald Trump, is more than a security plea—it’s a high-stakes offer to counter Beijing and Moscow’s deepening influence.
The deal on the table? U.S. help to defeat Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in exchange for investment and long-term access to strategic resources like cobalt, lithium, copper and tantalum. These minerals are key to electric vehicles, batteries and the broader energy transition. Right now, China dominates this market in Congo—and the conditions on the ground are a mix of exploitation and instability.
With China dominating Congo’s mining sector and Russia expanding its influence across Africa, President Tshisekedi’s pivot toward Trump could throw a wrench into both countries’ strategic ambitions.
The move aligns with the Trump administration’s new Sovereign Wealth Fund initiative, which seeks to secure critical minerals and energy assets for U.S. industry and defense—while undermining the grip of foreign adversaries in resource-rich regions.
Reports from The Wall Street Journal confirm the offer is real. Tshisekedi is tying peace in the region to a bigger vision: local mineral processing to boost jobs and American involvement to balance foreign control. In an interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, he pitched it straight—peace for investment, security for access.
On March 17, Reuters confirmed Tshisekedi met with Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a Trump’s envoy, to push the deal forward.
What makes this more than just another foreign aid request is the timing. Trump’s newly launched U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund—created by executive order on Feb. 4, 2025—is designed to secure global resources under his “America First 2.0” policy. It’s America’s first federal-level fund of its kind, aiming to:
-Invest surplus federal revenues to reduce taxes and build long-term economic security.
-Compete strategically with China and other rivals.
-Lock down access to critical resources—minerals, semiconductors, energy—and reshape supply chains.
The DRC could be the test case. Its mineral reserves are some of the largest and most valuable in the world. But rebel violence and foreign control have made the region unstable and unpredictable.
The Wall Street Journal provides additional information on related developments concerning other Trump allies:
The Congolese letter didn’t specify what kind of military backing it wants from the U.S. A White House official said it doesn’t “provide details on the private correspondence to the president.”
The offer comes at the same time Tshisekedi is in negotiations with Erik Prince, a Trump ally who founded the controversial private-military company then called Blackwater. If the talks succeed, Prince would help the Congolese government collect and secure taxes from mining operations, according to Congolese and Western officials.
Scores of militias operate in the wilds of eastern Congo. The latest clashes constitute aftershocks from the 31-year-old Rwandan genocide, in which ethnic Hutus slaughtered Tutsis by the hundreds of thousands. When Tutsi forces under current Rwandan President Paul Kagame defeated their Hutu rivals in 1994, many Hutu extremists fled across the border into Congo.
Rwanda has denied providing military backing to M23, whose members are predominantly Tutsis, and says its only interest is in securing its own borders and protecting ethnic kinsmen from persecution in Congo.
Whether these move leads to a U.S. foothold in the heart of Africa—or just another unfulfilled promise—remains to be seen. But Tshisekedi’s pivot to Trump sends a clear message: Congo is done being carved up. It’s ready to make its own deals. The only question now is whether Washington bites.
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