Overview

• President Donald Trump said on July 30 that he may skip the G20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg and send a delegate instead, expressing frustration with South African policies.
• He criticized Pretoria’s land expropriation measures designed to remedy apartheid-era inequities and its case before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
• U.S. financial assistance to South Africa has been suspended since Trump’s February executive order, and senior officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio have shunned G20 meetings this year.
• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has repeatedly urged dialogue, defended land reform as constitutionally grounded and rejected allegations of arbitrary white land seizures.
• South Africa’s role as G20 chair until November 2025 and its ties to BRICS underscore the wider trade and geopolitical stakes of U.S. disengagement.