Donald Trump praised Liberian President Joseph Boakai for speaking “such good English,” despite Liberia’s sole official language being English and its own history as a U.S. colony in the early 19th century.

Boakai was one of several African leaders at the White House this week, and he remarked on Liberia’s long relationship with the U.S.

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“We want to work with the United States in peace and security within the region because we are committed to that,” he said. “And we just want to thank you so much for this opportunity.”

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“Such good English,” Trump responded. “Such beautiful… Where did you learn to speak so beautifully? Where were you educated? Where?”

Boakai said that he went to school in Liberia, laughing nervously. He attended the College of West Africa and the University of Liberia, both located in the country’s capital of Monrovia, which is named for American President James Monroe.

“Well, that’s very interesting,” he said. “It’s beautiful English. I have people at this table [who] can’t speak nearly as well.”

“Trump never misses an opportunity to be racist and wrong, and every day he finds a new way to be embarrassing,” Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) responded on social media. “Asking the President of Liberia where he learned English when it’s literally the official language is peak ignorance.”

Trump was hosting Boakai as well as leaders from Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Mauritania, and Gabon for a three-day trade summit. He said that the point of the summit was to shift away from providing humanitarian aid to Africa and instead focus on increasing trade.

He also stated that “there’s a lot of anger on your continent” and claimed that “we’ve been able to solve a lot of it,” noting that his administration is working to secure peace in Sudan and Libya.

Liberia was a project of the American Colonization Society, an early 19th-century group that sought to help people of African descent born in the Americas relocate to Africa. Over 15,000 African Americans and 3000 Afro-Caribbeans went to Liberia by the time the Civil War broke out in the U.S.

Liberia currently criminalizes homosexuality, punishing it with a maximum sentence of three years. The U.N. has found “serious, widespread” violations of LGBTQ+ people’s rights in the Christian-majority country and has called for numerous reforms to protect LGBTQ+ rights there. Paradoxically, the country bans discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation in employment.

Liberia is Africa’s oldest modern republic and one of two African countries, along with Ethiopia, to avoid colonization during the European Scramble for Africa.

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