Biden Hopes Train Project in Angola Defines Africa Legacy

On the final day of perhaps his final trip overseas as commander in chief, President Biden celebrated his foreign policy agenda by turning to a piece of infrastructure at the heart of his identity: a train.

It was not the Amtrak train Mr. Biden rode frequently as a senator or chose as the setting for the kickoff of his first presidential campaign nearly four decades ago. Mr. Biden instead toured a section of an 800-mile railway project in Angola that his administration hopes will be the key to expanding U.S. economic influence in Africa, a continent rich with critical minerals.

“I’m coming back to ride on the train from end to end,” Mr. Biden told President João Lourenço of Angola during a round table with African leaders in the port city of Lobito. “We’re not just laying tracks. We’re laying the groundwork for a better future for our people.”

Mr. Biden was spotlighting what is known as the Lobito Corridor, a railway project that his aides say is the proof behind the president’s commitment to be “all in on Africa’s future,” amid growing concern the United States has neglected the continent over the years and allowed China to gain economic dominance in the region.

The project, funded in part by the United States, runs from Angola’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo to Lobito, which sits on the Atlantic Ocean. Mr. Biden has said it will help connect Angola’s economy to nearby markets, including in Zambia. But it is also a means to expand U.S. access to a region rich with critical minerals, like copper and cobalt, used to make batteries for various products, including cellphones and electric vehicles.

Once the railway is complete, it would mean minerals could be more easily shipped to the United States, allowing the country to make progress on its goal of diversifying its supply chains.