African leaders to be hosted by Trump

US President Donald Trump will host leaders from five African nations in Washington next week to discuss ‘commercial opportunities’, reports TimesLIVE. Trump will host leaders from Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal for a discussion and lunch at the White House on 9 July. ‘President Trump believes that African countries offer incredible commercial opportunities which benefit both the American people and our African partners,’ a White House official said. The Trump administration has axed swaths of US foreign aid for Africa as part of a plan to curb spending it considers wasteful and not aligned with Trump's ‘America First’ policies. On Tuesday, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the US was abandoning what he called a charity-based foreign aid model and will favour those nations that demonstrate ‘both the ability and willingness to help themselves’.