U.S. President Donald Trump’s Oct. 31 designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC) for the alleged killing of Christians made global headlines. Trump declared that the United States would stand with “our CHERISHED Christians” around the world, threatening to halt all aid to Nigeria and even claiming the U.S. might take unilateral military action to “wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” if the Nigerian government did not act quickly to stop the killing.
The decision to designate Nigeria as a CPC marks the first major international religious freedom action of Trump’s second term. But it is not the first for the United States, where a principled approach to religious freedom to advance American values and interests has been a distinctive, bipartisan feature of foreign policy since 1998. When people face violence on account of their faith, repression expands, extremism increases, and millions flee, contributing to unprecedented levels of global migration. Additionally, governments that fail to respect the fundamental freedoms of their people cannot be counted upon to adhere to international agreements, weakening the legitimacy of U.S. partners. Addressing the drivers of religious persecution can prevent the expansion of global challenges, limit human suffering, and lead to a safer, more secure United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s Oct. 31 designation of Nigeria as a country of particular concern (CPC) for the alleged killing of Christians made global headlines. Trump declared that the United States would stand with “our CHERISHED Christians” around the world, threatening to halt all aid to Nigeria and even claiming the U.S. might take unilateral military action to “wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” if the Nigerian government did not act quickly to stop the killing.
The decision to designate Nigeria as a CPC marks the first major international religious freedom action of Trump’s second term. But it is not the first for the United States, where a principled approach to religious freedom to advance American values and interests has been a distinctive, bipartisan feature of foreign policy since 1998. When people face violence on account of their faith, repression expands, extremism increases, and millions flee, contributing to unprecedented levels of global migration. Additionally, governments that fail to respect the fundamental freedoms of their people cannot be counted upon to adhere to international agreements, weakening the legitimacy of U.S. partners. Addressing the drivers of religious persecution can prevent the expansion of global challenges, limit human suffering, and lead to a safer, more secure United States.
Now, attention to Nigeria highlights a broader issue of global persecution. Christians are certainly targeted for their faith and need assistance—but they are not alone. Instead of retreating into a narrower focus on persecuted Christians, the Trump administration should capitalize upon this momentum and use its leverage to pursue a broader, principled approach to advancing religious freedom globally.
The Trump administration’s decision to return Nigeria to the CPC list of the worst violators of religious freedom was the correct decision. While the exact number of Christian deaths is debated, previous administrations have made CPC designations for much less—the body count is too high to ignore. The Nigerian government’s reaction to its designation was far from receptive; the state has proved unwilling or unable at all levels to stop repeated attacks on Christians, while enabling the prosecution of non-Muslims, Muslim minorities, and atheists for alleged blasphemy.
Critics posit that the issues leading to violence in Nigeria are not necessarily religious but triggered by land disputes, climate-driven migration, volatile politics, and corruption. These issues are certainly present, and could explain the Biden administration’s abrupt delisting of Nigeria in 2021. However, religious identity has increasingly played a larger role in why terrorists and extremists target Christians—and the attacks are only continuing. On Friday, 300 children and teachers were kidnapped from a Catholic school in northwestern Nigeria and, in a demonstration of Nigeria’s complexity, 20 Muslim schoolgirls were kidnapped on Monday in a neighboring province.
Yet for all the praise the CPC decision received, the president’s possessive Christian-centric rhetoric was unprecedented, and his talk of unilateral military intervention to defend Christians was extraordinary. While most believe it bluster, attacking terrorists without Nigeria’s permission or government coordination would obviously shatter any hope of cooperation. Long-term resolution of the challenges facing Christians and others will require greater Nigerian government effort, not less.
For these reasons, the administration will need to pursue a combination of diplomatic pressure, security cooperation, and capacity-building for law enforcement and local peacemakers. However, many of those tools, such as U.S. government-funded atrocity prevention or survivor assistance, are greatly diminished or no longer exist. And if efforts fail and the violence continues, it’s likely Christian advocates will press for the resettlement of Nigerian refugees fleeing the attacks, which will require a higher refugee ceiling.
Given these challenges, the CPC designation can function as an effective carrot-and-stick diplomatic tool to spark reform efforts. The threat of sanctions or a downgrade of relations provide powerful incentives, as does the prospect of a more positive diplomatic relationship, forcing political leaders to reassess their priorities. The administration must therefore capitalize on the listing by pressuring Nigerian authorities to do what they have so far proved unwilling or unable: protect the vulnerable, hold perpetrators accountable, and reform laws facilitating the prosecution of religious views. This has proved successful in the past: The first Trump administration leveraged Uzbekistan’s CPC designation—threatening sanctions while dangling delisting—to encourage reforms in Tashkent, resulting in its removal from the list in 2018 after 12 years of designation.
In addition to its efforts in Uzbekistan, the first Trump administration made religious freedom a priority, hosting two ministerial-level events in 2018 and 2019 and launching a 38-member alliance of nations committed to freedom of belief. When U.S. leadership emphasized the defense of religious freedom as a core human right for all, other nations followed, demonstrating how the administration could elevate the topic on the global agenda—for example, the ministerial meetings started in 2018 continue, and the Czech Republic hosted the seventh last week.
To revive the first administration’s approach, the second Trump administration should redesignate other states that severely restrict religious freedom as CPCs, such as three of the countries sitting atop the administration’s foreign-policy priorities—China, North Korea, and Russia. While these states are currently on the designation list, it has not been updated since 2023 despite its supposed annual mandate. It is crucial that the Trump administration take renewed action, and Trump’s relationships with Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Russian President Vladimir Putin provide him with unique opportunities to press concerns about religious persecution—though so far, he has not prioritized the issue.
Take China. The recent arrest of Pastor Ezra Jin and dozens of other Zion Church pastors and staff exemplifies the dire situation for religious freedom. The industrial-scale repression of Uyghur Muslims continues apace—repression unseen since World War II—through draconian laws, reeducation camps, sterilization, disappearances, and deaths. All faith groups confront severe punishments if they question the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Sinicization of faith, and the CCP seems intent on erasing the Uyghur community from existence, undermining Tibetan Buddhism, and crushing the underground church.
Many hoped that, during his recent meeting with Xi in South Korea, Trump would personally intervene on behalf of Jin to facilitate his release. Reports indicate he did raise the case of Jimmy Lai, a Catholic pro-democracy activist imprisoned in Hong Kong for his advocacy of freedom of speech and religion, with Xi. Both Lai and Jin, however, remain jailed.
In North Korea, three generations of repressive Kim family policies have transformed the country into arguably the most repressive in the world. North Korea was once a place of rich Christian life, but the country’s Christian community has withered under decades of persecution, and religious freedom simply does not exist for anyone. Despite Trump’s stated desire to meet with Kim during his Asia trip, his agenda did not reference religious freedom.
Trump’s repeated engagements with Putin have not revealed any mention of religious persecution either. Putin has manipulated independent religious activity and suppressed resisters, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses. In occupied areas of Ukraine, Russian forces have attacked non-Russian Orthodox expressions of faith and disappeared pastors. Even in the regions of Ukraine free from Russian rule, Moscow purposely targets civilian areas, including religious and cultural sites.
By law, U.S. administrations must designate CPCs annually, which traditionally occurs after the State Department issues its annual religious freedom report. However, the Biden administration failed to update the list in 2024, and this year’s report is still under internal review. Trump’s unusual method of announcing Nigeria’s CPC designation on social media seems singular thus far, but to avoid sending the wrong message that U.S. concern has waned, and to increase pressure on CPCs, the administration must make haste to redesignate the countries on the list.
Then, the U.S. should employ CPC designations as part of an expansive diplomatic engagement that demonstrates the benefits of reform and the consequences of inaction. Durable success in Nigeria will come if U.S. attention is part of a broader strategy to address the drivers of persecution, not just the symptoms. In engagements with Nigeria and any other states on the CPC list, the Trump administration should follow the lead of past administrations by developing policy papers and binding agreements to spell out a timetable of specific reforms that could lead to delisting. Countries would need to provide tangible evidence of corrections, such as taking police and military action to protect vulnerable populations, arresting and prosecuting attackers, reforming blasphemy laws, and releasing prisoners. If such action is not taken, or if attacks continue unabated, the U.S could threaten a range of sanctions or the end of assistance programs (as Trump has already done in Nigeria’s case). If CPC designations are made without follow-up or consequences, U.S. credibility will be diminished and weaken deterrence against future abuses.
The Biden administration was wrong to delist Nigeria in 2021 and neglect the list in 2024. However, Trump’s singular focus on Christians so far tilts too far the other way. A holistic approach taking into consideration the myriad problems faced by Nigerians of different backgrounds will not minimize the suffering of Christians but demonstrate the victimization of many. The principle of religious freedom for all should be the north star in U.S. engagements, allowing for assistance to persecuted Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, atheists, and any others who are oppressed because of their beliefs.
Only the United States has the power and influence to induce these countries to end their heinous abuses. Concerns about persecuted Christians are warranted and deserving of attention, but encouraging an environment where everyone has freedom of religion or belief will secure the future of the church in these areas.
As the International Religious Freedom Act declared when creating the CPC tool in 1998, it is the U.S. policy to be “[s]tanding for liberty and standing with the persecuted.” For over 25 years, the United States has been the global leader in protecting and promoting religious freedom internationally, across Republican and Democratic administrations. The U.S. government must not shy away from continuing to advance American values centered on religious freedom for all.