“I think if I am Egypt, I want to have water in the Nile, and we are working on that,” Trump said during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House. He described the dam as “closing up water going to the Nile,” which Egypt depends on for 97 percent of its water.

Trump added, “I think the United States funded the dam. I do not know why they didn't solve the problem before they built the dam. But it is nice when the Nile River has water.”

Calling the Nile “a very important source of income and life,” Trump said, “to take that away is pretty incredible. But we think we are going to have that solved very quickly.”

Construction of the GERD began in 2011, sparking tensions between upstream Ethiopia and downstream Egypt and Sudan, both of which have demanded a legally binding agreement governing the dam’s filling and operation.

Ethiopia has filled the dam in five stages between 2020 and 2024 and plans to inaugurate it in September, according to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Cairo and Khartoum, while not opposed to Ethiopia’s development aims, have repeatedly criticized Addis Ababa’s unilateral actions.

Negotiations over the dam have stretched on for more than a decade without yielding an agreement. Egypt announced the collapse of the GERD talks in December 2023, citing Ethiopia’s rejection of proposed technical and legal frameworks.

Sudan, which shares Egypt’s concerns, has warned that Ethiopia’s moves could affect the safety of its dams.

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