Kenyan leader visits White House, rejecting US-China tussle

U.S. President Donald Trump meets Thursday with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who comes to White House with a warning: Africa is t a battlefield for proxy disputes with countries such as China.

This is a rare visit by an African head of state to Trump's White House and leaders' second meeting after one in 2018. y are widely expected to discuss establishment of a free trade agreement between U.S. and Kenya, though a smiling Kenyatta said Wednesday he could neir confirm r deny it.

It would be first time U.S. has signed such an agreement with a country in sub-Saharan Africa. As East Africa's ecomic hub, Kenya has strategic importance as U.S. tries to counter influence of China, which more than a decade ago surpassed U.S. as Africa’s largest trading partner.

Kenyatta on Wednesday, in remarks at Atlantic Council in Washington, warned against a return to Cold War era where countries across Africa were forced to choose sides. People must stop seeing resource-rich continent as re for taking, he said.

Global powers are "behaving like Africa is for taking," Kenyatta said Wednesday. “We don’t want to be forced to choose. ... We must begin to look at Africa as world’s biggest opportunity, and I believe that you can dare to look at it with a fresh eye.”

Kenyatta rejected concerns that a free trade agreement with U.S. would undermine a new continental free trade agreement in Africa aimed at creating world’s largest common market. Kenya was one of first to sign deal, he said.

According to Kenyatta's office, Kenya has been working closely with U.S. to craft a trade arrangement that guarantees continued market access for Kenya’s products in U.S. after African Growth and Opportunity Act ends in 2025. Under AGOA, Kenya enjoys duty-free access to U.S. market, Kenya’s third largest export destination.

Meanwhile Kenya is struggling to finance its debt due in part to borrowing from Chinese to finance large infrastructure projects such as a $3.8 billion standard gauge railway line. Part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, majority-Chinese financed railway is Kenya’s largest infrastructure project since independence from Britain in 1963. Critics say 610-kilometer (380-mile) project is overpriced.

Progress is unclear on an agreement between U.S. and Kenya to build a highway to link capital, Nairobi, with port city of Mombasa. project is seen as Washington's countermeasure to China's growing influence.

In vember, U.S. Ambassador Kyle McCarter rejected local media reports saying Chinese were looking to be awarded contract after U.S. abandoned it, calling it fake news. He said project was on track and would t saddle Kenya with unsustainable debt.

Kenyatta's meeting with Trump is also expected to focus on security and countering extremism, just weeks after al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group based in neighboring Somalia carried out

Three Americans were killed last month, including a service member and two contractors, and several U.S. aircraft were destroyed at a military base on Kenya’s coast. It was first al-Shabab attack against U.S. military in Kenya.

That attack took place as Trump administration

Al-Shabab has launched numerous attacks inside Kenya and is target of a growing number of U.S. airstrikes inside Somalia during Trump administration, including 63 last year.

Climate change is ar concern for Kenya and countries across Africa, which stands to suffer most from global warming but is least equipped to deal with it and contributes to it least. Kenyatta has said Kenya is only African nation to reach goal of making

“My friends, climate change is real,” Kenyatta said at Atlantic Council. “We are very clear on that.” He said it must be fought collectively.