South Africa has sharply criticised US President Donald Trump’s decision to exclude it from the 2026 G20 summit, describing the move as punitive, misinformed, and harmful to international cooperation. The development marks a new low in relations between the two countries, already strained after Washington’s absence from last week’s G20 gathering in Johannesburg.
Trump announced that next year’s summit — which he plans to host at his Miami Golf Resort — would not include South Africa. In response, Pretoria issued a strongly worded statement rejecting the decision and stressing that its G20 membership is sovereign and not subject to approval by any single nation.
“South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms,” the presidency said, reiterating that the country would continue to take part fully in all G20-related activities.
The US president has accused South Africa of declining to symbolically hand over the G20 presidency at the conclusion of the Johannesburg summit, further alleging “horrific human rights abuses” against white farmers — claims international observers and rights groups have repeatedly dismissed as unfounded.
While South Africa formally transferred the presidency during a low-key foreign ministry ceremony on Tuesday, officials said they refused to do so at the summit to a US embassy representative, arguing that Washington should be represented “at the right level.”
Pretoria linked Trump’s latest action to what it described as a consistent pattern of hostility since his return to office in January, citing a 30 per cent tariff imposed on South African goods — the highest rate in sub-Saharan Africa — and tensions over South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“It is regrettable that despite the efforts and numerous attempts by President (Cyril) Ramaphosa and his administration to reset the diplomatic relationship with the US, President Trump continues to apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country,” the statement added.
The G20 consists of 19 countries, along with the European Union and the African Union, representing about 85 per cent of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population.
