The US president has announced a halt to all payments and subsidies to South Africa amid escalating diplomatic tensions
South Africa will not receive an invitation to next year’s G20 summit in Florida because it is not “worthy” of membership “anywhere,” US President Donald Trump has said, citing alleged abuses against white farmers and a dispute over the group’s rotating leadership handover. Pretoria has called the move “regrettable” and “based on misinformation and distortions.”
This follows the 2025 G20 summit in Johannesburg, the first held on African soil, which took place despite Washington’s boycott. Leaders from other major economies approved a declaration stressing climate action, debt relief for poorer nations, and global inequality – priorities set by Pretoria during its presidency. The summit closed with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa banging the gavel after rejecting Washington’s proposal that a US envoy take the ceremonial handover. Pretoria later transferred the chair to Washington at a low-key ceremony on Tuesday.
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump criticized Pretoria for refusing to hand off the G20 leadership to a US Embassy representative who attended the closing ceremony on Sunday.
“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,” he said.
Trump repeated longstanding allegations that the South African government allows “horrific” abuses against “Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers,” claiming that “they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them.”
He said Washington will halt “all payments and subsidies” to Africa’s most industrialized nation, effective immediately.
“South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere,” Trump wrote.
South Africa’s president responded by rejecting efforts to sideline the country from the forum, saying Pretoria “does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms.”
He said the US chose “out of its own volition” to boycott the G20 summit, which other leaders hailed as one of the “most successful.”
“South Africa will continue to participate as a full, active and constructive member of the G20,” Ramaphosa stated.
