Joe Biden used the first visit by a U.S. president to Angola on Tuesday to promote multibillion-dollar pledges to the sub-Saharan African country and to speak at a slavery museum where he will pay tribute to the human trafficking that once fueled the two economies countries connected.

“The United States is fully committed to Africa,” Biden told Angolan President João Loureno, who called Biden’s visit a crucial turning point in U.S.-Angola relations that date back to the Cold War.

However, although the trip was intended to counter China’s influence on the African continent of over 1.4 billion people by securing the US commitment of $3 billion to rebuild the Lobito Corridor railway between Zambia, Congo and Angola demonstrated, China announced its own move.

The corridor through southern Africa is intended to ease the movement of raw materials for export and strengthen the U.S. presence in a region rich in key minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies.

Already investing heavily in mining and processing African minerals, China announced Tuesday that it is banning exports of gallium, germanium, antimony and other high-tech materials to the United States. This came a day after the US expanded its list of Chinese technology companies subject to controls.

The United States has been building relationships in Africa through trade, security and humanitarian assistance for years. The 800-mile (1,300-kilometer) rail expansion is different and has echoes of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure strategy in Africa and other parts of the world.

Biden will visit the coastal town of Lobito on Wednesday to take a look at the corridor’s mouth into the Atlantic Ocean. The project was also funded by the European Union, the Group of Seven leading industrial nations, a Western-led private consortium and African banks.

It was not clear how many of the U.S. commitments have been fulfilled and how much of that will depend on the Trump administration.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said the corridor would “take years” to complete. That means much of it could fall to Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20th.

Asked whether the project could move forward without Trump’s support, Kirby said the Biden administration hopes “that it also recognizes the value, that it recognizes how it will help advance a safer, more prosperous and economically stable continent.” “

Kirby also insisted that the corridor was about more than just overtaking Beijing.

“We are not asking countries to choose between us and Russia and China. We are simply looking for reliable, sustainable and verifiable investment opportunities that the people of Angola and the continent can rely on,” he said.

One Angolan, 19-year-old Ladislau Ngola, called Biden’s visit “very important for our country as the Lobito Corridor will create many jobs for young people.” Julião Oliveira said “Africa in general” would also benefit.

There were many soldiers but few civilians present on the rainy streets of the capital Luanda – a notable change from Biden’s arrival on Monday, when cheering spectators lined his route. On Tuesday, authorities asked people to stay home to clear traffic. As the motorcade passed through the outskirts, crowds waved from rooftops and intersections.

Biden and Lourenco spoke briefly to reporters before a closed session. Ignoring questions about his decision to pardon his son after previously promising not to do so, Biden laughed and joked to the Angolan delegation: “Welcome to America.”

He also told Lourenco, promising to use the trip to listen: “We don’t think we’re smarter because we’re bigger and more powerful. We don’t believe we have all the answers.”

Angola’s president said he wants a public-private partnership to increase energy production. He praised Biden’s “vision and leadership” in the Lobito corridor and said they would “always be remembered.”

After the meeting, a senior US government official said China was not brought up. The official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a meeting that was closed to the public, said Trump was not mentioned often because Biden did not want to be seen as a spokesman for him.

The official also said Biden’s visit to Lobito would be attended by the presidents of Zambia and Congo.

Biden promised to visit Africa last year after reviving the US-Africa summit in 2022. But the trip was postponed until this year due to Hurricane Milton and postponed again in October this year – reinforcing the feeling among Africans that their continent is still at a low priority for Washington.

The last U.S. president to visit sub-Saharan Africa was Barack Obama in 2015. Biden attended a United Nations climate summit in Egypt in North Africa in 2022.

Later Tuesday, Biden toured Angola’s National Slavery Museum. The site was once the headquarters of the Capela da Casa Grande, a 17th-century temple where slaves were baptized before boarding ships that took them to the Americas.

Kirby said Biden will deliver a speech there in which he will “both honor the terrible history of slavery that has bound our two nations and look toward a future based on a shared vision that benefits both of our peoples.” comes.”

Biden also met briefly with Wanda Tucker, a descendant of William Tucker, the first enslaved child born in the United States, the White House said. William Tucker’s parents were brought to colonial Virginia aboard a Portuguese ship from Angola in August 1619. Tucker was scheduled to attend Biden’s speech.