'That Is Unconscionable!': Booker Repeatedly Trashes Trump Over Aid Cuts To African Countries

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) spoke about the Trump administration's policies toward African countries.

Transcript

00:00I'm really grateful to the chairman for working together and leading this committee. To the two

00:04gentlemen before me, I just want to say you all have had long careers of dedicated public service.

00:09You are patriots in every sense of the word. I'm grateful for how you've dedicated not only your

00:14lives, but obviously your family has made quite a commitment to this country as well. It's great

00:18to have you here today. I am just very eager to have this conversation with two folks who are

00:25career folks not involved in politics because we should really be talking about the urgencies that

00:31the chairman just spoke to. Critical minerals are really the building block of the 21st century.

00:38We are screaming to a new age from smartphones to semiconductors to electric vehicle batteries,

00:44renewable energy technologies. These resources are really going to source, be the central source

00:51that's going to drive economic growth and innovations that many of us here in this room can't even

00:55imagine that are going to come. It also is critical for helping to lower costs for people in the United

01:00States and around the world. We need to make sure we have a policy and a strategy. It's also very vital

01:07for our military readiness and our industrial competitiveness. But as my colleague has said,

01:13China has not only expanded its foreign sourcing of critical minerals, it has also developed a near

01:19monopoly in the processing and refinement of critical minerals, enabling it to exert influence over global

01:26supply chains, availability and pricing. We are in a crisis and not enough people recognize the crisis

01:33that we're in. It demands action. We know the strategic importance of these materials, but I believe the

01:40United States is trailing behind in this global competition and not exercising its strength,

01:47power and focus. As a result, I believe we must develop a comprehensive U.S. strategy on critical minerals

01:55that reflects our values, protects our interests and supply chains, strengthens our partnerships and reduces

02:03barriers for investment. Building U.S.-Africa partnerships when it comes to critical minerals

02:10is key, key for a common sense pragmatic strategy. And there is abundant opportunity to do so. Having

02:18traveled around the continent, I see how those countries, so many of them are more inclined to work

02:24with us, partner with us because of our values, because of our ideals. They do not want to partner with

02:31China. But when we create a vacuum, China rushes to fill it. The African continent is home to nearly 30% of the

02:40world's known critical mineral reserves, including minerals and other materials essential for the

02:45technologies that I've mentioned. But our posture in the continent right now is far from where it needs to be.

02:53First and foremost, we need to do a much better job in deepening those partnerships, building the trust,

02:59trust, grounded in mutual respect, democratic values, and long-term opportunity for them and us to

03:07strengthen joint security and mutual prosperity. We need to do that in a way what makes the United

03:14States their partner of choice. It already is, but we have to make that bridge, that avenue open.

03:21We need to provide an alternative to China and Russia, who are moving so aggressively to secure

03:27access influence without regard to the governments or communities that are impacted.

03:33My frustration with the Trump administration, having talked to so many members, is that they

03:38clearly do not have a strategy. But what's worse is they are undermining the progress that we have made

03:46on this committee in a bipartisan way in trying to deal with this urgency. I've heard the urgency of

03:54commercial diplomacy from the Trump administration folks who have sat in hearings. I believe in

03:59commercial diplomacy. I've seen the power of it firsthand in my visits to the continent. But

04:04commercial diplomacy without a larger strategic plan, without proper funding, staffing, and programming,

04:11doesn't do much. It sounds like nice rhetoric, but it doesn't offer real change. It's what we need

04:16right now in this crisis. The State Department has implemented changes, though, that have also undercut

04:23our competitiveness when it comes to strengthening relationships and securing supply chains. Let me

04:28give you some examples. The Trump administration has proposed a 76 percent cut to the Millennium Challenge

04:35corporation, again, bipartisan support, one of our most valuable tools to support critical infrastructure

04:42throughout Africa, including developing mineral supply chains. My colleague rightfully talked about the

04:49importance of the libido corridor. Well, while Congress reviews the proposal, the Trump administration went

04:56ahead and terminated the MCC compact with Zambia. This compact was directly linked to our joint efforts

05:05along the libido corridor, a project designed to create the first westward-facing critical mineral

05:11supply chain in Africa. That is unconscionable. The administration has not continued Prosper Africa.

05:20I've talked to the chairman of this committee who is committed to that. It was a bipartisan initiative

05:26launched under the first Trump administration and connected U.S. businesses with African companies and

05:31markets. But again, it's being abandoned, even though we all know the difference it's made. The Trump

05:37administration terminated the very governance and economic support that would help African partners

05:44and more importantly, or as importantly, improve the business climate to increase access for U.S.

05:50companies. The Trump administration terminated labor, environmental and peacebuilding programs that

05:56supported vulnerable communities in conflict areas where critical minerals become a source of corruption,

06:03violence and destruction. The Trump administration stopped the U.S. geological surveys in African

06:09countries to help locate and map the extent of critical minerals. The Trump administration stopped

06:15countering PRC influence and funding that addressed illicit mining in countries like Nigeria. The Trump

06:23administration fired over 1,300 employees at the State Department with critical expertise, some of

06:30whom were focused on critical minerals and some of whom had owned onward assignments to critical African

06:37posts, where there are already significant staffing shortages. The Trump administration has not nominated

06:45appointees for key positions, haven't even put the nominees forward, including an assistant secretary for

06:51African affairs. To date, the administration has only nominated one ambassador to serve in an African country.

07:01China's diplomatic presence is running laps around the United States of America. They are savoring our lack of action,

07:11our retreat, our undermining our business interests, our compromising our security, and are not seizing on a

07:20strategy for critical minerals. We need a real strategy, a strategy that would support true bilateral

07:29relationships, that would empower local economies and communities to create better long-term partners

07:35and markets for U.S. companies, that would staff our embassies, that every embassy I visited say that the

07:43opposition, or China, outmatches them in so many ways. Africa is not just a source of raw materials. It is a

07:52rising global force in the world economy. It is a central partner for today and a vital critical partner for

08:02tomorrow. And so, yes, yes, yes, I hear the lip service. We must increase U.S. commercial investment opportunities,

08:08but you can't undercut a lot of the structures this committee has built in a bipartisan way

08:14to support that commercial success. We've got to be smart, not blind with extractive ambition,

08:23but with mutual respect and strategic foresight that create wins-wins for African countries, nations,

08:29and peoples, and American strength, security, and economic might. We must focus on long-term

08:36opportunities to reduce nations' reliance on China, address business climate challenges, create good-paying

08:44jobs at home and abroad, strengthen our industrial base, boost the credibility of our leadership,

08:50businesses, and partnership. Sadly, instead, the Trump administration is systematically undermining our

08:57ability to do so by terminating or ignoring the resources a Congress in a bipartisan way has

09:03provided to better accomplish these goals. What is the strategy? What should be the strategy? We see the

09:11urgencies. We see the crisis. I hope this conversation is constructive to us getting to the bottom of ways

09:18that this committee in a bipartisan way can address the galling gaps.

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