Trump has united Libya. East and west with one voice (for once), but against him

In what is merely the latest episode of Donald Trump’s diplomatic erratic behaviour, on Sunday, within the space of a few hours, Libya went from being described by the US president as a “shithole country” to “a proud, resilient, hospitable people who deserve peace and prosperity”. The attack came during his rally in Georgia. “Libya, Yemen, Haiti, Somalia. Remember what I called them? Shithole countries.” For once, Trump’s words managed to unite the east and west of Libya, which has been divided since 2011. In Tripoli, the Foreign Minister summoned the US chargé d’affaires to express his outrage, whilst Saddam Haftar, the leader of Benghazi, wrote on X that it was “a deplorable and unacceptable matter”.

It was then that the US president backtracked on Truth. “The United States remains committed to strengthening our bilateral relations, supporting the long-awaited unification of Libya and its institutions,” he wrote. It is likely that Trump heeded two distinct voices in the space of a single day. In Georgia, pressure from the Israelis – to which the White House cannot help but be sensitive – may well have made itself felt regarding the memorandum on maritime borders ratified last week between Libya and Turkey. Israel is disadvantaged by the agreement; it increases Ankara’s influence in the Mediterranean and hinders energy investments between the Jewish state and Europe. After the rally, however, it appears that Massad Boulos made his voice heard. The special envoy to the Middle East and Africa is the architect of the plan to unify eastern and western Libya and must have greeted Trump’s rash remarks with dismay. A factor in the retraction may have been the fact that, during the US President’s next stop in Michigan, Boulos was present in Trump’s entourage as a key figure – since 2024 – in securing the vote of the state’s large Arab community. The two American oil giants, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, having recently returned to Libya with investments worth billions, breathed a sigh of relief.