The reasons for Morocco's rapprochement with the United States and Israel
Rabat seeks to establish itself as a top-tier power and promotes strategic cooperation with Washington and Tel Aviv
Washington / JerusalemMorocco likes to recall that it was the first country to recognize the independence of the United States. A long-standing relationship that has accelerated dramatically under Donald Trump. The trigger was when, in 2020, Rabat adhered to the Abraham Accords, promoted by the Republican during his first term to normalize relations between Israel and Arab countries. In exchange, Washington recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. This transaction laid the groundwork for the current triangulation of interests between the US, Israel, and Morocco in Africa.
Six years later, this relationship has evolved beyond the initial agreement and has become a partnership based on its own strategic interests that have even withstood the impact of the Gaza war. Despite the Moroccan people's rejection of the Gaza war, the kingdom of Mohammed VI's aspirations to annex Western Sahara are not so far from the Israeli occupation agenda.
Currently, Morocco is the main buyer of arms from the United States on the African continent, according to the State Department. Washington has approximately 8.545 billion dollars in active sales with the Moroccan government under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Among the sales agreements are 18 HIMARS missile launchers, the same defense system that Ukraine uses to protect itself from Russian attacks. The latest report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows that Moroccan imports of heavy weaponry have increased by 12% between 2021 and 2025, compared to the 2016-2020 period. The United States leads this process as Morocco's main supplier. Between 2021 and 2025, Washington accounted for 60% of the arms deliveries the country received.
Alongside Washington is Tel Aviv, which since the signing of the Abraham Accords has become Morocco's second-largest arms supplier (24%), displacing France to third place (10%), according to SIPRI. The displacement of the European country's influence in arms relations is accompanied by the disaffection that Rabat has shown in recent years towards Paris. In another symbolic gesture, the Moroccan government is replacing French classes in public schools with English.
The intensification of Morocco's arms relations with the US and Israel also occurs in parallel with rising tensions with Algeria. Discontent with the neighboring country has only increased after Washington supported the Alaouite claims over Western Sahara. In this framework of interests and alliances, Algiers has the support of China and Russia.
In recent years, Israel has also accelerated the supply of drones to Morocco in its repression campaign against the Sahrawi population and the Polisario Front. An investigation published by L'Humanité denounced that the military and espionage technology that Israel has developed in the war against the Palestinians is also used against the Sahrawis. "The relationship is solid and mutually important. It has gone far beyond the geopolitical reasons that originated it and has become a bilateral partnership based on several pillars: defense, economy, and diplomacy," Intissar Fakir, director of the Middle East Institute research center and specialist in Moroccan politics, explains to ARA.
A sleeping giant of critical minerals
Beyond arms supplies, Morocco has also become an interesting ally for Washington for geostrategic reasons. The first is its position as a gateway to Africa and also to the Mediterranean Sea, being practically one of the guardians of NATO's southern flank. The second is its reserves of critical minerals, specifically phosphate rock, which is used to produce fertilizers and batteries for electric cars.
It turns out that Morocco is a sleeping giant of phosphate rock: the latest IEA report on global critical mineral reserves highlights how the African country has 70% of the world's reserves of this material, but only extracts and covers less than 15% of global demand. Coincidentally, a good part of the reserves are located in Bu Craa, within Western Sahara. China has been entering Morocco for several years, investing in projects and financing related to this sector in order to have a preferential position for when this giant awakens.
Rabat is also aware of these reasons and is exploiting them to get closer to the Trump administration. "Morocco does not submit to geography, but transforms it into power," explained the Moroccan ambassador in Washington, Youssef Amrani, in a recent interview with Maroc Diplomatique. When last week Trump renewed his universal tariffs with a new 12.5% tax for everyone, including Rabat, he also signed an exception for imports of Moroccan phosphate rock.
As in Brussels, in the corridors of the Capitol, Moroccan diplomacy has also been working to build alliances, especially within the Republican party. There is the bipartisan caucus on Morocco, which following the border crisis in Ceuta has even become a thrown weapon among MAGA circles. Republican Thomas Massie, a strong critic of Trump who will not renew his seat in November, published last weekend a text drafted by this committee where he indirectly acknowledged a territorial dispute over the former Spanish colony. The brief fragment, which is not binding, introduced the following sentence: "The Committee supports the Secretary of State's efforts to foster diplomatic dialogue between Morocco and Spain on the future status of Ceuta and Melilla." The decision to introduce this framework comes from Republican Mario Díaz Balart, vice-president of the caucus on Morocco.
