Trump bars South Africa from G-20 Summit over diplomatic dispute

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that South Africa will be barred from participating in next year’s G-20 summit in Miami and that all U.S. payments and aid to the country will be halted, citing the nation’s treatment of a U.S. government representative at this year’s G-20 meeting.

Trump said the decision also includes the absence of a U.S. delegation at this year’s G-20 summit in South Africa. He claimed the action was prompted by what he described as violent persecution of white South Africans of European descent, an allegation rejected by South Africa, a country that endured decades of apartheid.

In a statement on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said South Africa “refused to hand over the responsibilities of hosting the G-20 summit to a senior U.S. embassy official at the conclusion of this week’s meeting.”

“Therefore, under my direction, South Africa will not receive an invitation to the 2026 G-20 summit in the great city of Miami, Florida,” President Trump wrote. “South Africa has proven to the world that it is not a worthy member anywhere, and we will immediately halt all payments and aid to the country.”

South African officials responded that they viewed the U.S. decision to appoint a local embassy official to receive the G-20 chairmanship as a diplomatic slight.

A statement from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said the handover ceremony took place at the Foreign Affairs Ministry after the summit concluded “because the United States was not present at the summit.”

The statement added that Ramaphosa had been made aware of Trump’s “regrettable remarks regarding South Africa’s participation in the 2026 G-20 meetings.”

The South African government also rejected Trump’s widely disputed claims regarding the killing of white farmers and land seizures, accusing him of imposing punitive measures based on “misleading and distorted information.”