Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has confirmed that the country’s longest highway, a 1,055-kilometre expressway running along the Atlantic coast from Tiznit to Dakhla, will be named the Donald J. Trump Highway, according to Al Jazeera.
The decision was set out in a letter to the US president dated July 2 and published by Morocco’s state news agency, Maghreb Arabe Presse. In the letter, the king described the honour as a personal expression of “deep appreciation” for Trump’s 2020 recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, a decision made during his first term as part of the wider Abraham Accords, under which Morocco agreed to normalise relations with Israel.
Built at a cost approaching $1bn, the expressway is described by Moroccan authorities as the longest continuous road infrastructure project in Africa. Running through Guelmim, Tan-Tan and Laayoune, it forms part of an Atlantic transport corridor intended to link Europe with West Africa, and Moroccan officials say it will shorten travel times and reduce disruption from flooding and shifting sand between the country’s economic centres and its southern regions, including near the Dakhla Atlantic Port currently under construction.
Trump thanked the Moroccan monarch in a post on Truth Social, saying he looked forward to “travelling the entire length of this Great Highway someday, hopefully soon.”
The naming carries added significance because the route crosses into Western Sahara, a territory whose sovereignty remains disputed. Morocco administers most of the region and considers it part of its southern provinces, while the Polisario Front, an independence movement backed by Algeria, controls part of the territory and continues to seek self-determination for the Sahrawi people. The United Nations classifies Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory, and the dispute remains one of the longest-running in Africa.
The highway’s completion also comes as Morocco prepares to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, with the government positioning its southern Atlantic infrastructure, including new ports and road links, as part of a wider strategy to strengthen the country’s role as a logistics and transport hub between Europe, Africa and the Sahel.