CEPA: Confronting the China Challenge in Africa: The Lobito Corridor

The US and EU are building a rail line connecting critical minerals in Zambia, the DRC to the sea of Angola. Will transatlantic cooperation fend off China’s Belt and Road? 

The Lobito Corridor runs from Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the Angolese port of Lobito. It’s a gigantic undertaking to counter China. Some 800 kilometers of a new track must be built in Africa. An initial $1.6 billion will fund 1,500 wagons, 35 locomotives, and the upgrading of existing rail lines and port terminals. The US has already committed an additional $2.3 billion for the railroad and accompanying mining and refinery projects, most in loans from the Development Finance Corporation and the Export-Import Bank. 

The potential prize is enormous: the Congo and Zambia are the top African producers of copper, accounting in 2022 for 2.3 million and 797,000 tons respectively. Copper is crucial to building electric batteries, wind turbines, and electric car charging ports. Angola is also resource-rich, possessing reserves in 32 of the 51 minerals vital to green technology.  

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