South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called US President Donald Trump’s decision to exclude South Africa from next year’s G20 summit in Florida “regrettable,” following a public announcement by Trump on social media.
Trump stated that South Africa “refused to hand over the G20 presidency to a US embassy representative” during last week’s summit in Johannesburg. “Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year,” he wrote. Although G20 members do not require formal invitations, access can be blocked through visa restrictions.
Trump boycotted the Johannesburg summit over a widely rejected claim that South Africa’s white minority faces large-scale killings and land seizures. He has previously alleged that a “white genocide” is taking place, and on Wednesday said the government was “killing white people and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them.” The South African government has repeatedly dismissed these claims as baseless and lacking credible evidence.
Ramaphosa responded that the US had been expected to participate in the summit “but unfortunately, it elected not to attend the G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg out of its own volition.” He noted that US businesses and civil society groups were present, and clarified that because the official US delegation did not attend, “instruments of the G20 Presidency were duly handed over to a US Embassy official at the Headquarters of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.”
The low-key handover appears to have angered Trump further, prompting fresh criticism of South Africa’s government and policies. In his Truth Social post, Trump claimed South Africa had “demonstrated to the world they were not a country worthy of membership anywhere” and announced an end to “all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately.”
Ramaphosa said it was unfortunate that, despite attempts to improve relations, Trump continued “to apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country.”
South African officials have urged other G20 members to show solidarity and protect the integrity of the bloc and the rights of all member states. The Johannesburg summit – the first held on African soil – concluded with a joint declaration committing to “multilateral co-operation” on climate mitigation and reducing economic inequality, adopted despite US objections that South Africa had weaponised its leadership of the group.