SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD NOT BE IN G20 GROUP, SAYS TRUMP

Thu 06 November 2025:

US President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday that South Africa no longer belongs in the Group of 20 major economies and reiterated his decision to skip the upcoming leaders’ summit in the country this month, as it holds the G20’s rotating presidency.

“South Africa shouldn’t even be in the G’s anymore,” Trump said during a speech at a conference in Miami.

President Trump appeared to mention South Africa in the context of people fleeing communism in South America but then doubled down in criticising South Africa instead.

“For generations, Miami has been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa. I mean, if you take a look at what’s going in on parts of South Africa, look at South Africa, what’s going on? Look at South America, what’s going on? You know, I’m not going to. We have a G20 meeting at South Africa. South Africa’s shouldn’t even be in the G’s anymore because what’s happened there is bad. I’m not going. I told them I’m not going. I’m not going to represent our country there. It shouldn’t be there.”

Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to attend the G20 leaders meeting, which is scheduled for November 22-23 in Johannesburg. – Additional reporting by Sherwin Bryce-Pease

The bilateral relationship between the United States and South Africa, once a cornerstone of post-apartheid cooperation in trade, health, and democracy promotion, has plummeted to its lowest point since 1994.

Tensions, already simmering under the Biden administration due to South Africa’s neutral stance on Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and its 2023-2024 ICJ genocide case against Israel, have escalated dramatically since Donald Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025.

Trump’s “America First” agenda, coupled with Pretoria’s deepening ties to BRICS partners like China and Russia, has triggered a cascade of punitive measures, diplomatic expulsions, and economic threats, pushing the partnership toward potential rupture.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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