Trump Slams South Africa Over Human Rights, Bars Nation from 2026 G20

This week in a scathing post on Truth Social, an American social media platform, American President Donald Trump criticised South Africa’s government over what he termed: “horrific human rights abuses” and announced that the country would be excluded from the 2026 G20 summit, plunging relations between the United States (US) and South Africa to a new low.

Trump's remarks came in response to what he considers South Africa's failure to address an alleged increase in violence against Afrikaners. He accused the South African government of enabling the: "random" expropriation of white-owned farms, and condemned the silence of major news outlets, particularly The New York Times, for failing to acknowledge what he described as: "genocide."

Trump’s latest rebuke is likely to further chill already frosty US-South Africa relations. Trump’s decision to bar South Africa from the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in Miami, complicates ongoing negotiations for a potential tariff deal between South Africa and America. Even if the US Supreme Court were to rule against certain aspects of Trump’s tariff policy, there is now a real risk that the US may find alternative ways to maintain trade pressures against South Africa.

The further deterioration in the United States-South Africa relationship raises the prospects of sanctions being introduced against specific political and government leaders as well as certain South African institutions or those who do business with them.

In his post, Trump threatened to halt all US payments and subsidies to South Africa, stating: "South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

In response, the South African Presidency issued a brief statement emphasising that South Africa is: "a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms." The statement reaffirmed South Africa’s continued commitment to the G20 and multilateralism and expressed regret that the US president continued to apply: "punitive measures" based on what South Africa described as: "misinformation and distortions" about the country.