Morocco has named the Tiznit-Dakhla expressway the "President Donald J. Trump Highway", casting the move as a mark of relations with the United States stretching back 250 years, the state news agency MAP reported on August 1.

The naming formalises Rabat's embrace of a gesture Trump had publicised days earlier, and ties the kingdom's most ambitious infrastructure project to his 2020 recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, which Spain and Algeria dispute.

The naming of the road also comes 24-hours after more than 60,000 people entered the Spanish exclave of Ceuta which sits at the northern edge of Morocco.

Most of the 1,055 km route runs through the disputed territory, which the United Nations still treats as non-self-governing, giving the naming a diplomatic weight beyond the road itself.

The expressway cost about $1bn and runs along the Atlantic coast from Tiznit in southern Morocco through Guelmim, Tan-Tan, Laayoune and Boujdour to Dakhla.

It became fully operational earlier in 2026 and ranks among the longest roads in Africa.

The route forms the backbone of Morocco's strategy to turn its southern provinces into a logistics and trade gateway linking Europe with West Africa through the Guerguerat border crossing. It is designed to connect with the Dakhla Atlantic port, a flagship project scheduled for completion in 2028.

Trump thanked King Mohammed VI for the naming in a post on his Truth Social platform, describing it as a great honour and saying he looked forward to travelling the length of the highway.

Trump's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara came as part of the deal under which Morocco normalised relations with Israel. France and Spain later shifted towards backing Moroccan control.

Western Sahara has been disputed between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front since Spain withdrew in 1975. Morocco controls most of the territory, while the Polisario seeks a referendum on independence.