During a meeting with the leaders of several African nations at the White House, President Donald Trump took a pause Wednesday to compliment Liberian President Joseph Boakai’s command of English.

“Well, thank you,” Trump said after Boakai spoke. “And such good English, that’s beautiful. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

“Where were you educated? Where? In Liberia? Well, that’s very interesting. It’s beautiful English,” he added. “I have people at this table can’t speak nearly as well.”

English is Liberia’s national language.

Reached for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly called Trump’s remarks “a heartfelt compliment during a meeting that marked a historic moment for U.S.-Africa relations.”

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Though Liberia has a sizable Indigenous population, many who live there are descendants of freed American slaves who were sent to Africa in the early 19th century. The country’s capital, Monrovia, was named for James Monroe, the fifth U.S. president and a supporter of the effort to establish Liberia as a state for freed American slaves. (Monroe himself was a slave owner.)

Liberia was founded as both American abolitionists and slaveholders sought to resettle the rising number of free Black people in the early 1800s. Black and white Americans debated whether people of all races could integrate in the U.S. The American Colonization Society purchased a strip of land on Africa’s west coast and began shuttling Black people from the U.S. to the colony in the 1820s.

In 1847, Liberia established a Constitution modeled after America’s and declared independence. In its Declaration of Independence, Liberia charged the U.S. with racism, violence and inequality that forced them to leave and create a new nation.

It is now Africa’s oldest modern republic and the second-oldest Black-led republic in the world, following Haiti, which was founded in 1804 after overthrowing the French.

Trump’s comments to Boakai sparked some backlash online.

“Trump never misses an opportunity to be racist and wrong, and every day he finds a new way to be embarrassing,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, wrote on X. “Asking the President of Liberia where he learned English when it’s literally the official language is peak ignorance. I’m pretty sure being blatantly offensive is not how you go about conducting diplomacy…”

“Absolutely the dumbest man in govt,” said former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a prominent Trump critic. “This is just ridiculous.

In his first term, Trump faced criticism from African and Haitian officials when he referred to Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries“ during a 2018 meeting with a bipartisan group of senators.

President Donald Trump was basking in the praise of a group of African leaders on Wednesday (July 9, 2025), many of them speaking a different language, when the Liberian President took to his microphone and spoke in English – his country’s official language.

“Liberia is a longtime friend of the United States and we believe in your policy of making America great again,” President Joseph Boakai said at a White House meeting before advocating for U.S. investment in his country. “We just want to thank you so much for this opportunity.”

Mr. Trump was impressed and inquired where Mr. Boakai got his language skills.

“Such good English,” Mr. Trump said. “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

Mr. Boakai seemed to chuckle.

“In Liberia?” Mr. Trump asked. “Yes sir,” Mr. Boakai said.

“That’s very interesting,” Mr. Trump said. “I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”

Liberia was founded in 1822 as a colony for free Black Americans, the brainchild of white Americans trying to address what they saw as a problem – the future for Black people in the United States once slavery ended. English is Liberia’s official language, though multiple Indigenous languages are spoken there as well.

US News ‘Where Did You Learn English?’ Trump Asks Liberian President About Official Language Of His Country | Watch Authored by : Naman Trivedi Updated Jul 10, 2025, 05:04 IST During a White House meeting with African leaders, Donald Trump praised Liberian President Joseph Boakai’s English, seemingly unaware it’s Liberia’s official language. Boakai replied that he was educated in Liberia. The moment, seen as tone-deaf, sparked backlash online. Trump emphasized shifting US policy from aid to trade in Africa.

Photo : AP

Trump

During a White House meeting with African leaders on Wednesday, President Donald Trump praised Liberian President Joseph Boakai’s command of English, seemingly unaware that English is Liberia’s official language. “Such good English, such beautiful…” Trump said after Boakai delivered remarks. “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where were you educated?”

Boakai chuckled and replied, “In Liberia.” “That’s very interesting, that’s beautiful English,” Trump said. “I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”

The exchange, which quickly went viral, drew criticism online for what many viewed as a tone-deaf moment. English has been Liberia’s national language since its founding in 1822 as a colony for freed Black Americans, a project led by white American abolitionists and slaveholders who debated whether Black people could integrate into US society after slavery.

At the event, Boakai had thanked Trump for the invitation, saying, “Liberia is a longtime friend of the United States and we believe in your policy of making America great again. We just want to thank you so much for this opportunity.”

Trump hosted the presidents of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal, using the occasion to highlight a shift in US policy toward Africa, from aid to trade, and to position the US as a better partner for the continent than China. Several leaders spoke in their own languages through interpreters, but Boakai addressed the gathering in fluent English.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly called Trump’s comments “a heartfelt compliment” during what she described as a historic meeting to strengthen US-Africa ties. Trump told the visiting leaders that he hoped to visit Africa himself in the future.

CNN —

US President Donald Trump praised Liberian President Joseph Boakai for his strong grasp of the English language on Wednesday. But the African leader was educated in Liberia, where English is the official language.

As he hosted five African leaders at the White House, Trump asked Boakai: “Such good English, it’s beautiful. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

Boakai informed Trump of his place of education, prompting Trump to express his curiosity. “That’s very interesting,” he said, “I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”

Liberia was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society whose goal was to resettle freed slaves in Africa. The country declared independence from the American Colonization Society in 1847, and a variety of languages are spoken in the country today, with English being the official language.

Several Liberians voiced their offense over Trump’s comment to Boakai, given the US president’s past remarks on African countries and the colonial legacy left by the US organization in Liberia.

“I felt insulted because our country is an English-speaking country,” Archie Tamel Harris, a Liberian youth advocate, told CNN.

“For him to ask that question, I don’t see it as a compliment. I feel that the US president and people in the west still see Africans as people in villages who are not educated.”

A Liberian diplomat who asked not to be named told CNN that they felt the comment “was not appropriate.” The diplomat added that “it was a bit condescending to an African president who’s from an English-speaking nation.”

Veronica Mente, a South African politician, questioned on X: “what stops [Boakai] from standing up and leav[ing]?”

The White House Press Office defended Trump’s statement on Wednesday.

“I was in the meeting and everyone was deeply appreciative of the President’s time and effort. The continent of Africa has never had such a friend in the White House as they do in President Trump,” Massad Boulos, the Trump administration’s senior advisor for Africa, said in a statement to CNN.

White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said that Trump’s comment was a “heartfelt compliment” and that “reporters should recognize that President Trump has already done more to restore global stability and uplift countries in Africa and around the world than Joe Biden did in four years.”

Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti told CNN that “there was no offense” from the Liberian president’s perspective and that “many people do not understand the linguistic borders or linguistic demography of the African continent.”

“What President Trump heard distinctly was the American influence on our English in Liberia, and the Liberian president is not offended by that,” Nyanti said.

“We know that English has different accents and forms, and so him picking up the distinct intonation that has its roots in American English for us was just recognizing a familiar English version,” she continued.

Trump has previously applauded the English language abilities of other leaders during diplomatic meetings. During a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump complimented his “good English” and asked if it was as good as his German.

Merz laughed and noted that he tries to “understand almost everything” and said he makes an effort “to speak as good as I can.”

The US president has centered the English language as part of this “America First” platform. During a 2015 presidential debate, Trump asserted that the US is “a country where we speak English.” In March, he signed an executive order making English the official language of the US.

Trump has previously landed in hot water for things he has said about the African nations. In 2018, the president referred to migrants from African countries and other nations as coming from “shithole countries.”

In May, he lectured South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on false claims that White South African farmers are the victims of a genocide.

Trump struck a different tone on Wednesday as he met with the leaders of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal, praising their countries as “all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, great oil deposits, and wonderful people.”

In turn, he was met with approval from the African leaders, who heaped praise on the president as they urged him to invest in their countries and develop their plentiful natural resources.

Boakai even remarked that Liberia “(believes) in the policy of making America great again.”

CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this story.

Summary

Companies Lesotho’s economy reliant on textile exports to US

Factory workers struggle after job losses

Factories seek alternative markets amid US tariff uncertainty

MASERU, July 9 (Reuters) – When Limpho Lefalatsa first learned she had lost her job at a Lesotho garment factory after 12 years due to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to hit her tiny African homeland with a crippling tariff on its exports, she was in shock.

“I thought I was going insane. It made no sense,” the 29-year-old said at her house in the capital Maseru. “When the truth started sinking in, I felt so helpless.”

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Lefalatsa’s monthly factory wage of around 3,000 rand ($168) had supported herself, sent her 12-year-old daughter to school and paid for the blood pressure medicine her elderly grandmother needs to survive.

Now that income is gone, and she still does not understand why. She’s not alone.

When Trump announced tariffs on imports for nearly all of the United States’ trading partners in April, the Southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho was singled out for the highest rate : 50%.

Lesotho officials were baffled , not least since their country, which Trump disparaged as a nation “nobody has ever heard of”, was the poster child of a flagship U.S. programme aimed at helping poor African economies develop through trade.

The Trump administration has defended the tariffs as reciprocal, saying that Lesotho charges 99% tariffs on U.S. goods. Lesotho officials say they do not know how the White House arrived at that figure.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a written request for comment.

Lesotho’s textiles sector, its leading export industry, is heavily dependent upon the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act, a U.S. trade initiative that offers qualifying African nations duty-free access to the U.S. market.

On the back of that preferential tariff treatment, Lesotho developed a textiles sector that, until now, was the biggest private employer with some 40,000 jobs and accounted for roughly 90% of manufacturing exports, according to Oxford Economics.

Exports to the U.S. under AGOA, including Levi (LEVI.N) , opens new tab and Wrangler jeans from a textile sector that largely employs women like Lefalatsa, make up a tenth of Lesotho’s $2 billion gross domestic product.

That now looks set to disappear.

Item 1 of 4 A worker executes her duties at the Afri-Expo Textile Factory, which makes clothing for the U.S. market, on the outskirts of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Siyabonga Sishi [1/4] A worker executes her duties at the Afri-Expo Textile Factory, which makes clothing for the U.S. market, on the outskirts of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Siyabonga Sishi Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

This week Lesotho declared a national state of disaster due to the “high rates of youth unemployment and job losses” caused by uncertainty surrounding the tariffs.

CANCELLED ORDERS, MASS LAYOFFS

“You can see there are no people here,” said Teboho Kobeli, owner of Afri-Expo, which makes jeans for export, gesturing towards rows of unmanned sewing machines at his factory.

While Trump suspended application of his tariff barrage for three months just days after his so-called “Liberation Day” announcement in order to give trading partners time to negotiate deals with Washington, in Lesotho the damage was already done.

The simple prospect of a 50% tariff caused many U.S. importers to cancel orders, leading, in turn, to mass sector-wide layoffs. And what orders still exist now bear more risk than reward.

“Employers … are just scared of taking more orders lest they plunge themselves into costs they are not ready to service,” independent political and economic analyst Lefu Thaela told Reuters.

The White House has yet to announce its final tariff on imports from Lesotho. Trump’s 90-day suspension was due to expire on Wednesday. But factory owners like Kobeli, who has dismissed 200 workers from his U.S.-focused production lines, fear the worst.

“If we still have these high tariffs, it means we must forget about producing for the U.S. and go as fast as we can … (looking for) other available markets,” he said.

A spokesperson for Lesotho’s trade ministry declined to comment until the government receives official communication from the Trump administration.

However, others, like retrenched garment worker Nteboheleng Hlapane, have a message for the U.S. president.

“I just pray to God that he touches your soul,” said the 37-year-old, who can no longer afford the inhaler her son needs to treat his asthma. “Think about other people … They are suffering because of your selfishness, your cruelty.”

($1 = 17.8465 rand)

Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Joe Bavier

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