The infrastructure agreement signed by the government of Liberia with Ivanhoe Atlantic has come under scrutiny, and according to the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Michael Walsh, Congress should be skeptical as well.
In July, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia Mark Toner, appointed by President Biden, led the charge in getting the Liberians under Joseph Boakai to sign a $2 billion railway infrastructure deal with Ivanhoe Atlantic, an "American" mining company whose parent company, Ivanhoe Mines, has apparent ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Since the deal's signing on July 4th, Liberia has alleged that Boakai was led to believe that he owed Ivanhoe Atlantic a political favor in getting them a seat at the table of a recent summit between the White House and several African leaders, which internal intelligence said was false.
Walsh described the details of this new railway deal, dubbed the "Liberty Corridor," which connects the Nimba region of the African nation of Guinea to a new port in Didia, Liberia.
"The Liberty Corridor raises a number of issues that the US Congress may want to consider," said Walsh in his article, adding, "Two of the most important involve the appearance of favoritism and insufficient due diligence in US commercial diplomacy."
In addition to the apparent deception practiced by Toner and Ivanhoe Atlantic in securing the new Liberty Corridor deal, Walsh suggested Congress should examine the true extent of Chinese influence on the agreement, which could run contrary to President Donald Trump's America First agenda and goals.
Several lawmakers previously spoke with The Floridian about their personal concerns about Chinese influence encroaching on Africa, with Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) telling us, "It's buying friends, it's buying access, especially countries that need the aid," adding, "They [China] ran our playbook. We got away from it. They ran our playbook and they're beating us at it."
Similarly, Representative Brian Mast (R-FL) said, "There is a high probability that these CCP-backed companies could and would work to sabotage our supply chain, or the critical components (minerals) that we as a nation rely on."
Walsh echoed their sentiments in his article, saying that Congress should hold a public hearing about the Liberty Corridor, which will "provide the Trump administration with a platform to make the case to the American people that their approach to US commercial diplomacy is far superior to those of the Biden administration."
"That includes their approach to putting an end to the global stranglehold that companies linked to the Chinese Communist Party have on access to critical minerals," Walsh concluded.
