December 19, 2025
The decision by U.S. President, Donald Trump, to exclude South Africa from the G20, during the U.S. Presidency, is an afront to the entire G20, Africa, and all nations of the Global South, which are the majority of the world. The U.S. is now the President of the G20 from December 1, 2025, until the G20 Leaders’ Summit in December 2026. For this one year period, South Africa will suffer no harm while waiting for its participation in the G20 to be restored in 2027 when Great Britain will become the President of the G20. However, the same cannot be said for the U.S., which will experience a decline in esteem among nations throughout the world. It is still not too late for Trump to reverse his dreadful decision and function as an American Statesman in the footsteps of Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and John Kennedy; the latter two were loved by Africans.
Trump Violates the G20
The first official act of the United States’ Presidency of the G20 was on December 15, 2025, with the meeting of the G20 Sherpas and Finance Officers. However, unlike every other orderly transition for the last twenty-five years to a new Presidency of the G20, South Africa, a founding member of the G20 was excluded by President Donal Trump. The motivation for this egregious, unprecedented action by President Trump is his distorted geopolitical view of the world. There are no mechanisms in the G20 that allow the exclusion or addition of new member nations by a single nation. Such a decision can only be made by the consensus of the entire group of G20 nations.
According to the G20 South Africa website, the G20 was founded in 1999 as a response to the Asian financial crisis of 1997– 1998, as an informal forum for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the most important industrialized and developing economies to discuss international economic and financial stability. The G20 was upgraded to the level of Heads of State/Government in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis of 2007, and in 2009, when it became apparent that the necessary crisis coordination would only be possible at the highest political level.
The role of the G20 is to create the foundation for global economic stability, a vital catalyst for economic development…
G20 is composed of nineteen nations, reputed to be the wealthiest, representing around 85% of the global Gross Domestic Product, over 75% of the global trade, and about two-thirds of the world population, plus the European Union and African Union, a recent member.
Some U.S. officials have questioned South Africa’s right to be a member of the G20 since it is not one of twenty the wealthiest nations. As the most industrialized nation in Africa, and a leader politically and morally on the continent, South Africa’s membership is more than justified. With Africa projected to have one fourth of the world’s population by 2050, it would be strategic folly to not include South Africa in the G20.
Lies About South Africa
U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in his article, America Welcomes a New G20 statedept.substack.com, exposes the outright venal lying attitude of the current U.S. presidency against the government of South Africa.
Rubio writes:
President Trump has rightly highlighted, the South African government’s appetite for racism and tolerance for violence against its Afrikaner citizens have become embedded as core domestic policies. It seems intent on enriching itself while the country’s economy limps along, all while South Africans are subject to violence, discrimination, and land confiscation without compensation.
Rubio perpetuates two lies.
One, anyone familiar with South Africa knows that the government does not have embedded policies of violence against Afrikaners. Two, land is not confiscated without compensation.
Rubio is not willing to stretch his lies as far as his boss, President Trump, who on multiple occasions has accused the South African government of practicing genocide against “white” Afrikaners. There have been accusations that white farmers have been killed and their land confiscated. No evidence has been provided to support such a claim. South African “whites” are in large part represented by the Democratic Alliance, a member of South Africa’s coalition government, who unequivocally deny Trump’s accusations of genocide. Additionally, leading Afrikaner groups have insisted that there is no genocide against Afrikaners in South Africa. Contrary to Trump encouraging “white” South Africans to emigrate to the U.S., leading Afrikaners have implored them to stay and participate in the development of South Africa, which they rightly consider their nation.
Rubio disingenuously whines that South Africa blocked the U.S. and other countries’ inputs into negotiations. It actively ignored our reasonable faith efforts to negotiate.
For these reasons, President Trump and the United States will not be extending an invitation to the South African government to participate in the G20 during our presidency.
This is the height of hypocrisy. It was Trump who refused to have an official U.S. representative at the G20 in Pretoria. In reality, as a result of Trump’s boycott of the G20 Summit, there was no one from the U.S. to negotiate with.
In his Response to Secretary Rubio, South African Minister Ronald Lamola, emphasized that,
South Africa is a founding member of the G20, no single member of the G20 has a unilateral right to exclude South Africa from the G20…South Africa’s Presidency was built on a simple, powerful belief: that treating Africa and the Global South as equal partners and honestly addressing the systemic macroeconomic issues that impede their growth, is not an act of charity, but a strategic imperative for a stable, prosperous world.
It is a matter of public record that the United States chose not to attend our G20 meetings. Given that absence, the notion of our “sabotaging” consensus is not just incorrect, it misunderstands the very purpose of a forum like the G20. Our role as host was not to force agreement, but to create the conditions for it: a table of equals, governed by the spirit of Ubuntu. That spirit, “I am because we are”, is not a slogan. It is the philosophy that steered our nation away from the precipice of bloodshed and towards reconciliation. (emphasis added)
Admittedly, South Africa has serious challenges with its economy and has one of the highest crime rates in the world. However, it is abundantly clear that Trump’s groundless attacks on South Africa will not contribute to South Africa’s progress. More portentously, they are not intended to help South Africa.
Trump Falsely Attack South Africa
On February 7th, 2025, less than three weeks after Trump assumed the presidency of the United States, he launched his campaign against the nation of South Africa. In his Executive Order, Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa, Trump asserted that South Africa was undermining United States foreign policy, which poses national security threats to our Nation, our allies, our African partners, and our interests.
It is the policy of the United States that, as long as South Africa continues these unjust and immoral practices that harm our Nation:
(a) the United States shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa; and
(b) the United States shall promote the resettlement of Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation.
He then proceeded to cut off $400 million in funds for South Africa in its fight against the AIDS virus, which kills more South Africans than any other population.
Earlier this year, Trump started spreading the slander that South Africa is practicing genocide against white farmers in particular. It is reported that Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa, first propagated this falsehood to Trump, who continued to spread this lie even after his breakup with Musk several months later.
To this day, absolutely no evidence has been provided to support this accusation of genocide. The Democratic Alliance, which represents many of the white farmers in South Africa has rejected Trump’s claim as nonsense.Trump preceded, without regard for the truth, to confront President Cyril Ramaphosa when he visited the White House in May of this year, displaying pictures of graves Trump alleged to be white South African farmers. In reality, these photos were actually graves from another African nation. Statistics of deaths in South Africa indicate that more black farmers have been killed than white farmers. Read: Trump’s Attacks on South Africa Are Wrong and Not in the True Interest of the USA
Trump’s Failed Presidency
Trump won both his first and second campaigns to become president as an outsider, not anointed by the Eastern Liberal Establishment. This was a positive feature of his presidency for which he was ruthlessly and unfairly victimized in his first term. Due to the harsh treatment he received in his first term as president, one could understand his lack of accomplishments in foreign and domestic policy. However, instead of making him stronger and more thoughtful, he has allowed his rage and thirst for revenge, among other weaknesses, to have thus far produced a failed presidency when it comes to Africa and the Global South. His inability to rise above the fray and articulate a vision for America that is coherent with a Grand Design for the world, (think Franklin Roosevelt) to promote global economic development, has shown to be a devastating defect in his character. Combined with his lack of an in-depth understanding of the principles of the American System of Political Economy, (think Alexander Hamilton) upon which America was founded, Trump has not succeeded in advancing a true American policy for home and abroad.
Despite his accurate criticisms of the “transatlantic elites” for imposing their ideology on the world, and his efforts to establish a more positive relationship with Presidents Putin and Xi, Trump is still a psychological prisoner of the West’s “rules-based international order.” Thus far, he has not succeeded in freeing his mind from the “zero-sum” mentality that dominates the “rules-based order.” Unfortunately for the U.S. and the world, Trump’s thinking is contaminated with this perverted world view.
Is Trump’s exclusion of South Africa from the G20 yet another attempt to weaken African nations and prevent them from assuming leadership positions in global institutions? It appears that under Trump, African nations will be reduced to cogs in the supply chain of rare earth minerals for the U.S. Trump’s marginalization of Africa is on display in his new National Security Strategy, which allots three paragraphs to Africa, despite the reality that Africa will be at the center of commerce in the next twenty-five years, with its burgeoning population markets. Read: Trump Security Doctrine Rightly Criticizes ‘Trans-Atlantic Elites’-But Strategically Flawed. Fails to Prioritize Africa
Why South Africa
I will repeat here what I wrote earlier this year, because of its accuracy.
Let me be bluntly honest: I know that the nation of South Africa is no security threat to United States or our allies. The real crime, if you will, committed by the government of South Africa, is not to bow to the will of the United States and the so called rules-based international order.
Specifically, South Africa has provided international, moral, political, and economic leadership in the following spheres of its foreign policy:
- South Africa’s courageous leadership in bringing before the International Court of Justice, the charge of Israeli genocide against Palestinians living in Gaza, which is specifically cited in the Executive Order: “South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice.”
- South Africa’s membership as the first African nation to join the BRICS, which is emerging with its nineteen members and partners, as an institution of growing influence and leadership of the new dynamic of the Global South. President Trump falsely views the BRICS as an enemy of the U.S., having twice said he will destroy the BRICS with a “100 percent tariff” and on February 14, declared that the BRICS is dead.
- South Africa is a strong ally of China on the continent, and as a member of the BRICS has a close relationship to Russia. Iran, another target of the rules-based order is also a member of the BRICS. There are many “China-hawks” in President Trump’s cabinet and among his close allies, who following in the footsteps of Presidents Obama and Biden, erroneously assert that China is the number one enemy of the U.S. However, South Africa’s relations with member nations of the BRICS can be an advantage for U.S. policy.
Before the final G20 Heads of State Summit in December 2026, when the presidency is transferred to Great Britain, Trump still has the opportunity to amend his arbitrary exclusion of South Africa. For Trump not to repair its relationship with South Africa, would be a critical strategic error on the part of the U.S., further undermining its leadership in the world.
Read below my earlier posts on this topic:
Trump’s Attacks on South Africa Are Wrong and Not in the True Interest of the USA
U.S. Attacks South Africa For Its Moral Leadership & China Alliance
Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Economic Analyst for Africa, who has been involved in economic development policies for Africa for over 35 years. He is a teacher, writer, public speaker, consultant on Africa, and an analyst of global strategic relations. Mr. Freeman strongly believes that economic development is an essential human right. He is the creator of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.com, also publishes on: lawrencefreeman.substack.com, “Freeman’s Africa and the World, and on X @lkfreemansafrica
