“Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”

It was Wednesday afternoon and President Trump was having lunch in the State Dining Room at the White House with five leaders of African nations. There were several different languages being spoken in the room. Headsets were worn by all so that translations could be heard.

But no headset was needed to understand what President Joseph Boakai of Liberia was saying. English is the official language of Liberia, which was founded in part as a movement to resettle free Black Americans in the 19th century.

Mr. Trump was impressed by what he heard.

“Such good English,” he remarked after Mr. Boakai spoke.

“Where did you learn to speak so beautifully,” Mr. Trump continued. “Where? Were you educated? Where?”

President Joseph Boakai of Liberia at the meeting with Mr. Trump on Wednesday. English is the official language of Liberia.Credit…Jim Watson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Mr. Boakai started to murmur appreciatively, and Mr. Trump continued: “In Liberia? Well, that’s very interesting. That’s beautiful English. I have people at this table can’t speak nearly as well.” There was some chuckling in the room.

Liberia has deep ties to the United States. Its founding was rooted in America’s “Back to Africa” movement and the American Colonization Society, a group formed in 1816 by philanthropists, abolitionists and some slave owners. That society, established in part as a response to rebellions of enslaved people, helped resettle free Black Americans in what would become Liberia.

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