President Donald Trump was visibly impressed by how well Liberian President Joseph Boakai spoke English, the official language of the West African country, while visiting the White House on July 9 to discuss potential trade deals.
“Liberia is a longtime friend of the United States, and we believe in your policy of making America great again,” Boakai told the president, according to Reuters.
“Well, thank you, and such good English,” Trump replied. “That’s beautiful. Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where were you educated? Where? In Liberia?”
“In Liberia?” Trump asked. “Yes, sir,” Boakai said.
“That’s very interesting,” Trump said. “I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”
Following Boakai’s visit to the White House, several people, including at least one elected official, took to social media to express their dissatisfaction with Trump’s comments, calling them inappropriate.
“Trump never misses an opportunity to be racist and wrong, and every day he finds a new way to be embarrassing,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas posted on X, formerly Twitter. “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…”
“This is an example of microaggression, highlighting Trump’s view of Africans,” one X post reads. “Many Africans, who were born, raised, and educated in Africa, communicate in ‘beautiful English.'”
USA TODAY has reached out to the White House for comment on the interaction.
When did Liberia make English its national language?
English has been Liberia’s national language since 1847, alongside 27 indigenous languages that are also spoken.
Liberia was founded in 1822 as the US wanted to relocate freed Black men and women after the Northern states had either abolished slavery or made plans for gradual emancipation by 1804. The settlers declared their independence from the US in 1847, writing their own constitution and becoming Africa’s oldest modern republic as well as the second-oldest Black-led republic in the world, following Haiti.
Although President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, declaring enslaved people in Confederate territory were to be free, it wasn’t until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865 that slavery was formally abolished in the US.
Reuters contributed to the reporting of this story.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump impressed by Liberia president’s English, the nation’s language
