President Donald Trump's historic victory in the 2024 presidential election ushered in the "Golden Age" in American politics and offered hope to millions of Americans that the ubiquities "Swamp" in Washington, D.C. would finally be drained, but those hopes seem to have been undermined by alleged "Deep State" holdovers that appear to be putting the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its Chinese-backed companies first before U.S. interests.
As President Trump continues to put the squeeze on China with heavily-weighted tariffs, it appears as if his very own Department of State is applying pressure to help a newly-formed American company with apparent ties to Chinese government-supported companies over American interests in Western Africa, namely in Liberia.
According to sources that wished to remain anonymous for this article, U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, Mark Toner, who was appointed to the position by former President Joe Biden, and the State Department Bureau of African Affairs, are actively pushing for Liberia to sign an railway infrastructure deal with Ivanhoe Atlantic, which appears imminent, and present it to President Trump during the recently announced African nation summit at The White House.
Liberian President Joseph Nyuma Boakai will be one of five African presidents or heads of state that were invited by President Trump. The summit is scheduled to take place July 9-11.
Where is Secretary Marco Rubio on all this?
Former Senator Rubio was one of the most vocal congressional voices of opposition to the Chinese Communist Party and its reach around the globe, passing legislation outlining apparent nefarious Chinese movements against U.S. interests.
“The Communist Party of China, that leads the PRC, is the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted. They have elements that the Soviet Union never possessed. They are a technological adversary and competitor, an industrial competitor, an economic competitor, a geopolitical competitor, a scientific competitor now, in every realm. It is an extraordinary challenge. It's one that I believe will define the 21st century. When they write the book about the 21st century, there's going to be some chapters in there about Putin. There's going to be some chapters in there about some of these other places, but the bulk of that book, about the 21st century will be not just about China, but about the relationship between China and the United States and what direction it went," Sen. Rubio stated during his confirmation hearing to be Secretary of State.
According to Ivanhoe Liberia's website, the infrastracture in question will do the following:
- Expand the capacity of the existing rail infrastructure between Tokadeh, Nimba County, to a port on the Liberian coast to accommodate the transport of ore from the Guinean Nimba Mountains,
- Rehabilitate rail infrastructure along the abandoned rail right-of-way from Tokadeh northwards to Yekepa, which was operated until 1992,
- Build 2-3 km of new rail, linking the existing rail right-of-way at Yekepa to the Guinean border where it will join a short segment of rail leading to the proposed, nearby iron ore mine, and
- Develop port facilities to handle the incremental ore to be delivered to the Liberian coast, whether by increasing capacity of existing port facilities at Buchanan or building new facilities in or near Buchanan
How does this affect American interests?
ArcelorMittal, the Luxembourg-based steel manufacturing company that employs 3,200 Americans in Alabama, Ohio, and Texas, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on US-made equipment for their mining operations in Liberia, including $100 million in the last year.
The company has worked in Liberia for the past 25 years.
The current arrangement between the Government of Liberia and ArcelorMittal is that Liberia gets to own the railway while ArcelorMittal operates it. The railway can be used by others but ArcelorMittal is the only company in Liberia that has the means and incentive to operate the railway.
Ivanhoe has a mine in Guinea but it doesn't appear as if they made any investments. China has a railway and port access deal in place in Guinea.
If Ivanhoe takes over this railway, and connects mines in Guinea to this railway and port, that could give Chinese interests access to critical minerals and deposits in two countries and control of two ports on the Atlantic Ocean.
The Chinese government's potential mineral strongholds in Guinea, The Congo, and possibly Liberia, could put them at a significant advantage over the U.S., Europe in Western Africa. Ivanhoe is also a joint partnership with Chinese mining firms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example. Chinese interests and Ivanhoe interests are one and the same.
The CCP's influence in Congo is staggering.
“Today, 80% of our mines are with a single partner [China]. So it’s a risk [...]. You never know what might happen. That’s why we’re now trying to diversify our partnerships so as not to depend on a single partner,” said Marcellin Paluku, Congo's Deputy Director of Cabinet at the Ministry of Mines, during the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh in January 2025.
Ivanhoe Mines has also promoted it's partnership with Chinese-based mining companies in Western Africa.
"Robert Friedland and Yufeng “Miles” Sun, Co-Chairmen of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; OTCQX: IVPAF), announced today that the company has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with China Nonferrous Metal Mining (Group) Co., Ltd. (CNMC), one of China’s leading mining companies, to jointly examine exploration, development and acquisition of mineral projects, as well as production, smelting and logistics opportunities, on the African continent," stated an Ivanhoe Mines press release.
Bipartisan Congressional Concerns
U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed his concerns about about establishment of the National Railway Authority in Liberia, and the embassy's apparent involvement, in a letter to former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken
“The Department also used weak or even bogus counter-PRC justifications to secure CPIF funding. In September, I blocked a CPIF project supporting the establishment of a National Railway Authority in Liberia. SFRC oversight revealed the project would not strengthen Liberia’s ability to compete with PRC-supported mining operations in the country… Embassy staff admitted to leveraging CPIF’s broad guidelines to fabricate a counter-PRC nexus, and to repurposing the initiative to address unrelated objectives," stated Senator Risch.
Earlier this year, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reiterate his "America First" global position during a meeting with a group of African nation ambassadors on Capitol Hill.
“I intend to use my chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy to ensure that America’s policy towards Africa is focused on advancing American national security interests across the continent, with an emphasis on countering China’s efforts to undermine those interests and conduct malign activities. The subcommittee will hold regular and multiple hearings on these and other issues," said Senator Cruz. "Right now, the Chinese Communist Party is pouring billions into its Belt and Road Initiative across Africa. These projects serve as a tool for the CCP to lock in crushing debt and undermine the sovereignty of countries across the continent."
Sen. Cruz added, "The United States has a unique opportunity to expand economic ties by fostering partnerships in energy, as well as in critical mineral and other resources, which will bring greater prosperity and a brighter future for Africans while strengthening America’s strategic position in the region.”
When asked if he supported Liberia and U.S. government agencies backing foreign companies with potential, and in some cases, apparent ties to the Chinese government over American interests, Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D) said, "I don't think we should get anywhere that. Any of that."
In speaking to The Floridian, Rep. Moskowitz said that the U.S. needed to "recognize that China has made significant inroads both in Latin America and in the African continent," and accused China of "buying friends."
"It's buying friends, it's buying access," said Rep. Moskowitz, adding,"especial countries that need the aid. China's coming in with the Belt and Road Initiative ,building their roads and highways and dams and then you know-- building with Chinese labor so it's not helping the workforce and then they're releasing it back to the country right so they're getting a financial relationship,
"They they ran our playbook. We got away from it. They ran our playbook and they're beating us at it," concluded Moskowitz.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman, Rep. Brian Mast (R) expressed his concerns about the potential national security risk some of these CCP-backed companies could pose to the U.S.
“We must divest from China, and work to ease our reliance on Chinese goods, products, and CCP-backed Chinese companies,” said Rep. Brian Mast in a statement to The Floridian. "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.”
Who owns Ivanhoe Atlantic and Ivanhoe Mines, LTD?
Ivanhoe Atlantic, which is based in Delaware and has a Post Office box as its mailing address, was previously known as High Power Exploration (HPX). HPX and became Ivanhoe Atlantic in December 2024, was the creation by Robert Friedland.
Friedland is the founder of Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines. LTD. Friedland also founded I-Pulse, Inc., the majority stockholder of Ivanhoe Atlantic.
Bronwyn Barnes, CEO of Ivanhoe Atlantic, recently stated, “We are delighted to transition to our new Ivanhoe Atlantic name and branding, which reflects our inclusion into the Ivanhoe group of companies which include Ivanhoe Mines Ltd., and Ivanhoe Electric Inc.”
Ivanhoe Mines, LTD., is a Canadian company that is partly owned by CCP supported Chinese companies. While the companies founder owns 12.08%, Hong Kong-based Zijin Mining Group Company Limited owns 12.23%, and Beijing-based China CITIC Bank Corporation owns 22.33%. Curioulsly enough, 50.77% of Ivanhoe Mines ownership is unknown.
Zijin Mining Group is listed as a state-owned entity in Shanghai County, Fujian Province by Reuters.
China CITIC Bank Corporation proudly states on its website that it is "a leading state-owned multinational financial and industrial conglomerate."
"We are part of CITIC Group Corporation, a state authorised investment institution and a leading state-owned multinational financial and industrial conglomerate. The financial services platform of CITIC Group Corporation is amongst the most comprehensive in China, covering cross-border commercial and investment banking, securities, insurance, trust services, asset management, direct investments, commodities and futures, etc."
It was recently reported by Reuters that Secretary Rubio would miss the upcoming African summit because he would be in Asia visiting Japan, South Korea, and attending the Association of Southeast Asian nations foreign ministers' meetin in Malayasia.
