By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that no American government officials will attend this year’s Group of 20 Summit in South Africa, accused the host nation of mistreating its minority white farmers.
Trump wrote on his Truth social media platform “It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” claimed that the South African government has allowed “abuses” against Afrikaners, including violence, killings, and land seizures.
“Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida!,” he added.
Trump had said he would not personally attend the summit, which brings together leaders from the world’s largest and emerging economies.
Media reported that the decision represents a rare diplomatic boycott of a major global forum by the United States.
It also underscored the Trump administration’s increasingly confrontational stance towards South Africa.
The South African government has rejected US accusations of discrimination, stated that white South Africans continue to have higher living standards than the Black majority population, decades after the end of apartheid.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has told Trump that reports of widespread persecution of white farmers were “completely false.”
Trump’s latest comments follow remarks he made this week at an economic event in Miami, where he said South Africa “should be thrown out of the G20.”
“South Africa shouldn’t even be in the Gs anymore, because what’s happened there is bad,” he said. “I’m not going to represent our country there. It shouldn’t be there.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio boycotted a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, criticized the forum’s emphasis on diversity, inclusion, and climate change.
South Africa holds the rotating presidency of the G20, with the United States set to assume the role next year.
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