Morocco Anticipates Stronger Ties with US as Trump Eyes White House Return

Trump’s return to the White House opens a new chapter in Moroccan-American relations. In December 2020, at the end of his first term, Trump had recognized the Moroccanness of the Sahara in a post on X. The US president had also announced in the wake the opening of a US consulate in Dakhla, in the Moroccan Sahara. A project that remained a dead letter under the Biden administration.

It is therefore with great enthusiasm that Rabat welcomed Trump’s election in the November 5 presidential election, nurturing the hope that the new US president will materialize this project of a US consulate in Dakhla. The opening of this consulate would represent a major diplomatic advance for Morocco, which already has the support of France, Germany, Spain and Israel on the Sahara issue. These countries believe that the Moroccan autonomy plan is the "most just and credible" solution to the Sahara conflict.

Moroccan political observers also see in this return of Trump an opportunity to strengthen the diplomatic gains obtained during his first term. But, analyzes Le Monde, the new Trump administration could face international pressure from Algeria, ally of the Polisario Front, and other countries supporting the Sahrawi independence movement, aimed at leading it to backtrack on its position on the Sahara.