5-President Meeting With Donald Trump -Boakai Off for High-Stake Meeting Amid Mixed Reactions

MONROVIA – The wind of increasing global power play, others call it neo-cold war, is ferociously blowing across the world, and Africa is a hotbed. This is particularly true for the ECOWAS region where the Russian Federation is progressively entrenching its claws – much to the dislike of its Western competitors, mainly the Uncle Sam. In the face of this, Africa’s oldest republic located in the center of the western coast, is reportedly invited, some say summoned, by the President Donald Trump, and gladly and quickly, the President Joseph N. Boakai has taken his flight, leaving behind a grinding rumor mill. The Analyst reports.

The Executive Mansion has reported that President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, Sr., departed the country Monday for a working visit to Washington, D.C., United States of America, as one of five African heads of state invited by U.S. President Donald J. Trump to attend the African Leaders Summit, hosted at the White House from July 7 to 11, 2025.

According to E-Mansion release, the high-level Summit aims to deepen diplomatic ties, advance shared economic goals, and enhance security cooperation between the United States and select African nations.

Other Heads of State attending this Summit will be from Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, and Senegal, according to the release.

During the Summit, President Boakai will reportedly hold bilateral discussions with President Trump and other senior U.S. officials on a range of critical issues, including economic development, governance, security, energy cooperation, and democratic consolidation.

The visit will also focus on reinforcing Liberia’s long-standing partnership with the United States and strengthening new areas of collaboration in health, education, and infrastructure.

The President is accompanied by a high-level delegation of government officials and technical experts, including Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Augustine Ngafuan, Minister of Finance; Samuel K. Woods II, National Security Advisor, and Major General Daniel Ziankahn (Rtd.), Military Advisor to the President.

Others include Jeff Bilbo, Chairman, National Investment Commission; Nathaniel Kwabo, Director General of the Cabinet, and Bedell Sandi, Special Envoy as well as the President’s teams on protocol, communications, and security.

The E-Mansion release stated that President Boakai’s participation in this summit marks another step in Liberia’s diplomatic engagement with global partners and reaffirms the Administration’s commitment to projecting Liberia as a reliable partner in Africa’s advancement and global affairs.

While the President is away, Cllr. Oswald N. Tweh, Minister of Justice, will chair the cabinet in consultation with the Vice President and President via telephone.

The President is expected to return to Liberia following the conclusion of the summit on July 11, 2025.

Grinding rumor mill

Ever since the president’s invitation from the United States was made known publicly, Liberians began responding differently in their perspectives – divided along political lines.

While the president’s supporters see the ‘privileged’ invitation as an approval of the administration’s diplomatic and domestic policies by the United States, opposition pundits termed it ‘bullying and coercive’—a forum to give Liberia straight instructions on the United States’ security and economic interest in West Africa, Liberia targeted as a launching pad. 

The prelude of the instructions started, it is rumored by opponents, in what is widely called a secrete signing of a long-tabled agreement between Liberia and a US-company, HPX.