A potential diplomatic standoff is emerging as U.S. President Donald Trump signals he may skip this year’s G20 summit in South Africa, raising questions about Washington’s participation in the crucial global forum. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump stated he might dispatch a representative instead, attributing his decision to what he termed South Africa’s “very bad policies.”
Tensions between the two nations have been escalating for some time. Trump has persistently criticized South Africa’s domestic and foreign policies, particularly its land reform initiatives and its ongoing case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The ICJ case alleges that the U.S. ally committed acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza.
Frustration from the U.S. side manifested earlier this year when Trump suspended financial assistance to South Africa via an executive order. The confrontation took a sharper turn during a White House meeting in May, where Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with unsubstantiated claims of “white genocide” and “forced land seizures.”
The strain deepened further when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio boycotted a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting. Washington has also voiced concerns regarding South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies, designed to address centuries of racial inequality, viewing them as detrimental to commercial interests.
President Ramaphosa has publicly urged Trump to attend the summit, asserting that his country’s policies are frequently “misunderstood and misrepresented.” Despite this call for dialogue, the deteriorating relationship makes it increasingly likely that the U.S. seat at the table in Johannesburg will be occupied by a surrogate rather than the President himself, leaving their cooperation on major global issues uncertain.
