President Donald J. Trump has launched a blistering attack on South Africa, saying his administration did not attend this year’s G20 summit in Johannesburg and announcing that the country will be barred from the 2026 gathering in Miami.
In a lengthy post on his @realDonaldTrump account on X, Trump said the United States “did not attend the G20 in South Africa” because, in his view, the South African government “refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Right Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers.” He went on to allege that authorities are “killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them.”
Trump described the situation as “genocide” and accused international media of ignoring it. He singled out The New York Times and what he called the “Fake News Media,” claiming they “won’t issue a word against this genocide,” and insisting that “Liars and Pretenders of the Radical Left Media” are “going out of business.”
Claims at Odds With Available Data
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The president’s language echoes long-running claims by right-wing groups that white farmers in South Africa are being targeted in a state-backed campaign of killings and land seizures. Those claims have been repeatedly rejected by South African authorities, independent crime researchers and international fact-checkers.
Police statistics and multiple analyses show that violent attacks on farms affect both white and Black farmers, workers and dwellers, and form part of South Africa’s wider violent-crime crisis rather than a racially targeted campaign. Recent government data for rural areas recorded a small number of murders in farming communities over a three-month period, with victims from different racial and social groups.
A series of fact-checks and court rulings have also dismissed the notion of a “white genocide” as a myth unsupported by evidence, even as it continues to circulate in far-right circles and on social media.
Boycott of Johannesburg Summit
Trump’s post provided his most direct explanation so far for why the United States did not send a senior delegation to the 2025 G20 summit in Johannesburg. Nineteen other member states and the European Union attended and signed a joint declaration on global economic cooperation, climate and debt relief.
According to Trump, Washington’s absence was a deliberate boycott linked to his human-rights accusations against Pretoria. He said South Africa had “demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government has repeatedly rejected that characterization, saying there is no government policy targeting white citizens and stressing that crime and land reform are being handled within a constitutional, democratic framework.
Dispute Over G20 Handover
Trump also claimed there was a breach of protocol at the end of the Johannesburg meeting. In his post, he said South Africa “refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our U.S. Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony.”
South African officials, however, say the presidency’s handover to the United States for 2026 was completed symbolically during the closing session, despite Trump’s absence, and that diplomatic procedures for the transition are under way. Reporting from the summit described Ramaphosa’s closing remarks as an appeal to maintain unity in the forum despite political tensions with Washington.
Threat to Bar South Africa From 2026 G20
In response to the alleged snub and his stated concerns over farm violence, Trump announced that South Africa would “NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year.” He did not explain how such a decision would be enforced, as membership and invitations are normally determined collectively by G20 states.
Reports in U.S. media say the 2026 summit is scheduled to take place in Miami, with Trump National Doral widely expected to serve as the main venue, a choice that has already prompted criticism from ethics watchdogs because of the potential financial benefit to the president’s private business.
Aid and “Subsidies” to Be Cut
Trump concluded his post by declaring that the United States would halt financial support to South Africa.
“We are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately,” he wrote, without specifying which aid programs he was referring to. The United States is one of South Africa’s major trading partners and has provided assistance in areas including health, education and security; analysts say major changes would likely require congressional involvement and could have diplomatic and economic repercussions for both countries.
South Africa has not yet issued a detailed public response to Trump’s latest message, but officials have previously called similar statements “misinformed” and vowed to continue participating in the G20 as a full member. The president’s post nevertheless signals a further escalation in tensions between Washington and Pretoria, and raises fresh questions about how a U.S.-hosted G20 summit will proceed if one of the group’s longstanding members is effectively told it is no longer welcome
