US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States (US) will completely boycott the G20 summit scheduled to be held in South Africa later this month, citing what he called the: “persecution of Afrikaners” in a post on Truth Social. His statement, while referencing Afrikaners, reflects a much broader breakdown in Washington’s patience with Pretoria over issues ranging from foreign policy alignment to trade and investment rules.

The boycott marks the sharpest diplomatic rupture between the two nations since the end of apartheid. Washington has for years expressed frustration at South Africa’s growing ties with Russia, China, and Iran, all of which the United States considers hostile to Western interests. Pretoria’s decision to maintain strong relations with Tehran, combined with its outspoken campaign against Israel at the International Court of Justice, has hardened perceptions in Washington that South Africa no longer shares the democratic values or geopolitical priorities of its Western trading partners, and that it rather acts to undermine these.

Trade relations have been equally strained. US negotiators accuse South Africa’s trade ministry of deliberately stalling talks on tariff reform while appearing to make progress only for the sake of optics. The South Africans are seen in Washington as having played for time, hoping that ongoing court challenges in the US might force a rollback of tariff barriers. Pretoria, meanwhile, argues that its policies reflect national sovereignty and that its empowerment and localisation rules are essential to redressing historical inequality, even though these have in the past been relaxed for certain categories of foreign investors.

The cost and complexity of black economic empowerment compliance have been described in US trade circles as a non-tariff barrier that disadvantages American firms. In addition, concerns over expropriation without compensation, weak property rights, and inconsistent regulation have further eroded investor confidence. A view in Washington is that these kinds of policies explain South Africa’s overall low rate of investment and growth, and that without reforming those policies South Africa cannot become a higher-growth economy — meaning that its democracy will ultimately fail.

While most of the world’s major economies have worked to strengthen ties with Washington, South Africa remains an outlier. China, which was facing 100%-plus US tariffs, has recently agreed on a framework to resolve trade disputes with the US. India, facing 50% tariffs, recently secured a defence pact with the US, which will now see those tariffs coming down. This week, Brazil’s President Lula, also facing 50% tariffs, pledged direct talks to ease tariffs following progress made by the two countries’ negotiators last month.

South Africa’s inability to make similar progress continues despite it posting among the lowest growth rates of BRICS members, amid suspicions that its foreign and trade policy has been captured by external actors set on freezing the US out of the country.

For now, the outlook appears to be a deadlock. Washington views South Africa as a strategic liability and a moral outlier, while Pretoria takes a stand against what it sees as Western ideological arrogance.