Trump Says Morocco Named Major Highway After Him: Why It Matters

US President Donald Trump said on February 10 on Truth Social that Morocco has named a major highway after him, thanking King Mohammed VI and expressing a desire to travel on this "great road." However, Morocco has not yet officially confirmed the move.

Experts say that if confirmed, the gesture is not surprising, as US-Morocco relations have flourished, particularly during Trump's two terms. Morocco was among the countries that signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords, normalizing ties with Israel in 2020. In return, the Trump administration strongly backed Morocco's stance at the United Nations on the Western Sahara territory.

Intissar Fakir, a fellow at the Middle East Institute, noted the timing is noteworthy. The Trump administration sponsored a UN Security Council resolution supporting Morocco's position on Western Sahara in October 2025. She suggested the honor could be linked to Morocco's ambition to host the 2030 World Cup final, a tournament co-hosted with Spain and Portugal. Another possibility is that the highway segment named after Trump was only recently completed.

The Tiznit-Dakhla highway, stretching 1,055 kilometers and costing about $1 billion, opened in January after a decade of construction. The route connects southern Morocco to Mauritania, passing through Guelmim, Tan-Tan, and Laayoune—the main city of Morocco-controlled Western Sahara—and continues south to the Dakhla peninsula, where Morocco is building the Dakhla Atlantic port.

This road is part of a broader infrastructure network aimed at consolidating Morocco's control over Western Sahara, a territory Morocco calls its "southern provinces" and has invested heavily in roads and ports over the past two decades. Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is rich in phosphate and fisheries. The Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic after Spain withdrew in 1975.

The ensuing 16-year war forced hundreds of thousands of Sahrawi people to flee to refugee camps around Tindouf in western Algeria. The UN estimates about 173,600 Sahrawi refugees live in these camps. In 1991, a UN-brokered ceasefire was signed, paving the way for a self-determination referendum, but the process has stalled over disagreements on voter eligibility and voting terms.

In November 2020, the Polisario Front declared an end to the ceasefire and resumed armed struggle. A month later, the Trump administration recognized Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, becoming the first Western government to do so. In October 2025, Washington again sponsored a Security Council resolution calling for negotiations on Western Sahara based on Morocco's autonomy proposal, under which the territory would be self-governing in part under Moroccan sovereignty.

Algeria, which backs the Polisario Front and has tense relations with Morocco, was among the harshest critics of the resolution. In 2024, France endorsed Morocco's autonomy plan, prompting Algeria to recall its ambassador from Paris. Diplomatic ties between Algeria and Morocco were severed in 2021.

In February, Washington said it had mediated talks in Madrid involving Morocco, the Polisario Front, Algeria, and Mauritania on implementing the Security Council resolution. US Special Envoy for Africa Massad Boulos later told reporters the conflict was "on the path to resolution." Experts suggest Algeria's participation in dialogue could signal a willingness to soften its opposition.

This week, the US Commerce Department announced it would fund the first phase of an ammonium project in Western Sahara, marking Washington's first economic involvement in the territory. This adds a new dimension to the decades-long conflict, which has largely been shaped by diplomacy, security, and opposing sovereignty claims.