US President Donald Trump has said that US government officials will not attend the G20 summit scheduled for November in South Africa due to human rights abuses, Reuters reports.
South Africa’s foreign ministry said it regretted the decision and reiterated Trump’s claim that the country was experiencing a racist crackdown on whites.
Trump said in a post on his social media account Truth Social that it was a disgrace that the G20 summit was being held in South Africa, where descendants of Dutch immigrants and immigrants from Germany and France were being murdered and their land and farms were illegally confiscated. The president said that no US officials would attend the summit and that he would be happy to host the G20 leaders in Florida in 2026.
US Vice President JD Vance was originally scheduled to attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg
on the 22nd to 23rd of November, but his participation has been canceled. Trump has been troubled by South Africa’s domestic and foreign policies, from the country’s land policy to South Africa’s accusations that US ally Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The US president said in October that the US would accept more asylum seekers from South Africa, with a focus on white people.
South Africa’s foreign ministry said the claim that a particular community was being discriminated against was not based on facts, adding that the country’s history of racial inequality had provided lessons that could help resolve disagreements within the G20.
South Africa’s G20 presidency will soon end, and the US will then take over.
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