The US will not attend the G20 summit in South Africa, President Donald Trump has said, citing widely discredited claims that white South Africans are being persecuted.
Trump described it as a “total disgrace” that South Africa is hosting the meeting, where leaders from the world’s largest economies are due to gather in Johannesburg later this month.
South Africa’s foreign ministry called the US decision “regrettable” and rejected claims of persecution, noting that no political party in the country, including those representing Afrikaners or the white community, has reported a genocide.
Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, stating: “It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa. Afrikaners, people descended from Dutch, French and German settlers, are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. No US government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue.”
He had previously suggested sending Vice President JD Vance instead of attending himself, but the White House later confirmed that no US official will participate.
Each year, a different member state hosts the G20 and sets the summit agenda, with the US scheduled to host after South Africa.
South Africa’s foreign ministry responded, saying the characterization of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical and that claims of persecution are “not substantiated by fact.”
Since returning to office in January, Trump has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority, including a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May. The administration has offered refugee status to Afrikaners, citing alleged “genocide,” while announcing plans to cap overall refugee admissions at a record low, prioritising white South Africans.
South Africa’s government dismissed the claims as “widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence,” pointing to low uptake of the refugee offer. A South African court in February described the claims as “clearly imagined.”
The G20, founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis, brings together nations controlling over 85% of global wealth. Its first leaders’ summit in 2008 responded to the global financial turmoil, promoting international cooperation. Today, annual meetings include leaders and representatives of the European Union and African Union, discussing the world’s economies and global challenges.