WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump announced on Friday that no U.S. government officials would attend the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit in South Africa, citing what he described as “human rights abuses” in the country.
“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 their farms illegally seized,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that white Afrikaners face persecution in the Black-majority nation, an allegation strongly denied by the South African government.
“No U.S. government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida,” he added.
The president recently set a historically low cap on U.S. refugee admissions, saying priority would be given to white Afrikaners.
Vice President JD Vance, who had been scheduled to represent Washington at the G20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg on November 22–23, will no longer attend, according to a source familiar with the matter.
South Africa’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump has been openly critical of South Africa’s policies from its land reforms to its decision to bring a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also boycotted the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in South Africa, which currently holds the G20 presidency from December 2024 to November 2025. The United States is set to assume the presidency in 2026.
— Humeyra Pamuk
