Donald Trump announced that South Africa will not be invited to next year’s G20 summit in Florida, following Washington’s boycott of the leaders’ summit in Johannesburg last week, a decision the African nation has called a “punitive” measure against it.
“The Group of 20 leaders adopted a declaration on Saturday to address the climate crisis and other global challenges despite U.S. objections, prompting the White House to accuse South Africa of weaponising its leadership of the group this year. At the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our U.S. Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.
“Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year.”
As per Reuters, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office described Trump’s post as “regrettable.” Ramaphosa clarified that, because the U.S. delegation was not present at last week’s summit, “instruments of the G20 Presidency were duly handover to a U.S. Embassy official at the Headquarters of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.”
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Trump has been critical of South Africa since beginning his second term in January, particularly regarding the country’s domestic and foreign policies. Ramaphosa’s office responded, saying, “It is regrettable that despite the efforts and numerous attempts by President Ramaphosa and his administration to reset the diplomatic relationship with the U.S., President Trump continues to apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that South Africa’s Black-majority government persecutes its white minority and alleged a genocide of white farmers, claims widely discredited. In a May White House meeting, Trump confronted Ramaphosa with false assertions of white genocide.
On Wednesday, Trump added that his administration would “stop all payments and subsidies” to South Africa, effective immediately.
In February, he signed an executive order cutting financial assistance for South Africa, citing disapproval of its land policy and its genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Washington’s ally, Israel.
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Image Credit: Polity
