Trump renews Nigeria threat, questions South Africa G20 role

Loni Prinsloo, Bloomberg News on Nov 6, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

U.S. President Donald Trump took fresh aim at two of Africa’s biggest economies, renewing his threat of an attack on Islamist militants in Nigeria and questioning South Africa’s role in the Group of 20 days before it hosts a global summit.

In a video posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump reiterated his claim that the Nigerian government is failing to prevent the killing of Christians and said he’s asked the Pentagon to prepare for “possible action” unless the West African nation acts. The comments came as Latin American observers brace for U.S. intervention in Venezuela, with Trump intensifying his saber-rattling toward the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.

“The Nigerian government better move fast before its too late,” Trump said. “If they don’t there is going to be hell to pay.”

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, a Muslim whose wife is a Christian pastor, said on Sunday he was committed to working with the U.S. and international community to protect all faiths. But “the characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” he said.

The nation of 230 million — roughly split between Christians and Muslims — has suffered from years of ethnic violence, with more than 20,000 killed since 2020, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data nonprofit, which tracks such incidents around the world. Of the almost 12,000 attacks in that period, the vast bulk were not religiously motivated.

While Trump’s initial comments led to some selling of Nigerian bonds earlier this week, the country was still able to sell $2.35 billion of new debt to global investors on Wednesday. Demand was big, with orders topping $12 billion.

The U.S. president also said South Africa — the continent’s biggest economy — shouldn’t form part of the G-20. Pretoria is preparing to host a summit of the group’s leaders on Nov. 22-23, though Trump reiterated that he won’t be attending, with Vice President JD Vance traveling to the forum in his stead.

“We have a G-20 meeting in South Africa,” he said at an America Business Forum event in Miami. “South Africa shouldn’t even be in the Gs anymore, because what’s happened there is bad.”

Trump has previously made the false claim that there’s a genocide against White Afrikaner farmers in South Africa, which led him to offer them refugee status in the U.S.

The remarks about South Africa came as Trump was discussing Cuba and Venezuela, suggesting he may have confused the country with South America.

“Our opponents are hell bent on turning America into a communist Cuba or socialist Venezuela. And you see what happened to those places. For generations, Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa,” he said. “I mean, if you take a look at what’s going on in parts of South Africa — look at South Africa, what’s going on. Look at South America, what’s going on.”

South Africa has been a multiparty democracy since 1994, when apartheid ended.

----------

—With assistance from Laura Davison and S'thembile Cele.