Will Donald Trump Visit Africa in his second and final term in office? This is the biggest question that African leaders and tourism players are asking since the conclusion of the November 5 US Elections. Trump a Republican politician made a resounding comeback to the White House as America’s 47th President. In a closely contested race, he lost the presidency in 2020 to outgoing President Joe Biden.
Biden’s Democratic Party fronted Kamala Harris to run against Trump in the 2024 polls but she lost. She garnered 226 Electoral College votes against Trump’s 312.
Will Donald Trump Visit Africa?
As January 20, 2025 approaches, Africa is upbeat that the American tycoon turned President will have a change of heart and visit. Biden will officially leave the Oval Office on January 20th. Trump will then be sworn in at Washington D.C.’s Capitol Hill Building. After the inauguration ceremony, all attention shifts to this; will Donald Trump visit Africa?
His visit would be an interesting phenomenon for a leader who expressed his dislike for Africa in the past. He touched off condemnation from different quarters in 2018 when he described Africa ‘with arrogance and racism’. Trump was then a two-year-old US President. He was in a meeting with a group of US lawmakers looking at immigration policies. His now infamous reference to the continent did not spare El Salvador and Haiti either rocked by gang violence.
US President-elect Donald Trump speaking at a past press conference. He has never visited Africa in his lifetime. Photo/The New York Times
Some international organisations such as the Washington DC-based African Union Mission called him out over his derogatory and racist language. The mission in a statement stated that the US President (in 2018) showed how much the Western world misunderstood Africa. The outfit demanded an apology from Trump but it never came forth.
Instead, he claimed that his statement was blown out of context. He, however, admitted that he came on a little too tough in his choice of words.
Has Donald Trump Ever Been to Africa?
Before we hop into will Donald Trump visit Africa in his second term, there is also a question of if he has visited Africa before. The 78-year-old has never visited Africa in his lifetime despite his daughter Tiffany Trump being married to an African man. Tiffany’s husband Michael Boulos is Lebanese-Nigerian.
He was born in Lebanon but moved to Nigeria where he grew up before relocating to the US. The couple exchanged their wedding vows in November 2022 where Trump, and his second wife Marla Maples (Tiffany’s mother) were in attendance. Boulos’ Nigerian family attended the wedding ceremony too donned Nigerian attire.
Tiffany and Boulos’ wedding was held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida’s posh neighbourhood, Palm Beach. All guests at the wedding party – Trump and his associates included – jammed to Nigerian Afrobeat music played at Mar-a-Lago. According to People, the couple met in Greece while having fun at Lindsay Lohan’s club.
Tiffany Trump poses for a photo with her husband Michael Boulos. Michael is Lebanese-Nigerian and he was introduced to Donald Trump’s family in 2018. Michael’s family is wealthy. Photo/Tiffany Trump
Boulos who comes from a wealthy family engaged Tiffany in early 2021. They started making their wedding arrangements immediately and Trump’s fourth child wanted a big and glamorous wedding in Greece or Miami. Boulos wanted a big wedding too that would capture the international scene given his family’s affluence in the US and in Nigeria.
However, they would settle on a glitzy bridal party in Palm Beach. Interesting enough is that Trump liked Boulos from the first day he was introduced to his family in 2018. Tiffany invited him for a Thanksgiving dinner held at Mar-a-Lago and informed the entire family that she was dating the Lebanese-Nigerian.
Soon after, her dad described Nigeria and the rest of Africa as sh****le countries. This didn’t bother Tiffany at all neither did it affect Trump’s relationship with his son-in-law.
Would Tourism in Africa Gain if Trump Visited?
A deep look into will Donald Trump visit Africa in his second term as the US President is amusing. Should it happen though, African tourism would be at gains. Media attention to the country or countries he chooses to visit would raise interest among travellers. High-profile visits to such countries is good news for the tourism industry. Who wouldn’t want to visit an African country that the US President has been to?
Moreover, incisive media coverage would likely delve deeper into the cultural and travel intrigues such a destination has to offer. That’s over and beyond the usual bilateral relations that dominate an American head of state’s visit to Africa. So, what’s your wildest guess on will Donald Trump visit Africa?
