United States President Donald Trump has taken to social media to announce that South Africa will not be allowed to attend next year’s Group of 20 (G20) intergovernmental forum in Miami, Florida.
In Wednesday’s post, Trump renewed false claims that a white “genocide” was unfolding in the African country.
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He also repeated his threat that South Africa would no longer receive funding from the US, a policy he put in place earlier this year.
“South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere,” Trump wrote. “We are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately.”
The message on Truth Social was the latest escalation in Trump’s ongoing feud with South Africa, a country he has accused of “shocking disregard” for the rights of white Afrikaners.
Human rights experts agree there is no basis for Trump’s claims of an Afrikaner genocide.
Yet, Trump has repeatedly cited such claims as he puts pressure on the government of his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa. He has also blamed the media for failing to carry his message.
“The South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Right [sic] Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers,” Trump wrote on Wednesday.
“To put it more bluntly, they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them. Perhaps, worst of all, the soon to be out of business New York Times and the Fake News Media won’t issue a word against this genocide.”
Passing the gavel
Trump’s latest comments come after an awkward diplomatic incident over the weekend, one that highlighted the increasingly fractious nature of US-South African relations.
In recent decades, the two countries have enjoyed largely amicable ties.
The US is South Africa’s second largest single-country trading partner, behind China, and business between the two countries is valued at approximately $26.2bn, as of 2024.
But last weekend’s G20 summit in the South African city of Johannesburg signalled how dramatically the relationship between the two countries had changed.
The summit was a big deal for Africa as a whole: It was the first time the continent had hosted the G20 leaders.
But while the US is typically a major presence at the G20, this time, the Trump administration decided to boycott the proceedings. Not only did Trump refuse to attend, but he also declined to send any top officials from Washington, DC, to the event.
“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” he wrote in a post on November 7.
“No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.”
The G20 has traditionally been a meeting ground for leaders from the European Union, the African Union and other major world economies to discuss technology, environmental initiatives and shared financial growth.
Next year, the summit is scheduled to take place in Mia