South Africa has sharply criticised US President Donald Trump’s decision to exclude it from the 2026 G20 summit, describing the move as punitive and based on misinformation that undermines global cooperation.
Tensions between Pretoria and Washington have intensified over a series of foreign and domestic policy disputes, culminating in the US boycott of last week’s G20 summit in Johannesburg. Trump later announced that South Africa would not be invited to next year’s gathering, which he intends to host at his Miami golf resort.
In a strongly worded statement on Wednesday, the Presidency said South Africa is a G20 member “in its own right”, and that decisions about membership rest with the collective bloc not with any single nation. It added that, as a sovereign democracy, South Africa “does not appreciate insults” regarding its place or value in global forums, and vowed to continue engaging fully in all G20 processes.
Trump justified his decision by citing alleged human rights abuses against white farmers and South Africa’s refusal to formally pass the G20 presidency to a US representative at the close of the Johannesburg summit. Pretoria insists the US delegation was not represented “at the right level”, and transferred the presidency at a lower-profile foreign ministry ceremony on Tuesday.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has repeatedly targeted South Africa with contentious claims including the debunked narrative of a so-called “white genocide” and imposed 30% tariffs on the country, the highest applied to any sub-Saharan African nation.
The diplomatic rift has been deepened further by South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
South Africa emphasised that President Cyril Ramaphosa has made “numerous attempts” to stabilise relations, but that Trump continues to act on “misinformation and distortions”.
The G20 consists of 19 countries along with the European Union and African Union, representing 85% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population.