United States President Donald Trump has announced the immediate cut of all subsidies and payments to South Africa, further widening the U.S.-South Africa diplomatic rift.
Trump made the announcement on Friday on his official X handle.
Aside from cutting subsidies from South Africa, Trump also barred the African nation from the 2026 G20 Summit in Miami.
This announcement comes as Trump boycotted the G20 Leaders’ Summit that was recently held in Johannesburg, South Africa, citing alleged human rights abuses and a dispute over diplomatic protocol.
On Friday, Trump reiterated the allegations, accusing the South African government of severe human-rights violations and refusing to cooperate with Washington’s diplomatic protocols.
In a statement released on Friday, Trump said: “The United States did not attend the G20 in South Africa, because the South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Rights Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers.”
Trump, who has repeatedly clashed with the South African government over land reform issues, went on to make sweeping allegations about violence in the country.
“To put it more bluntly, they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them,” he said. “Perhaps, worst of all, the soon to be out of business New York Times and the Fake News Media won’t issue a word against this genocide. That’s why all the Liars and Pretenders of the Radical Left Media are going out of business!”
The former president also criticised South Africa’s handling of the summit’s closing protocol, claiming the host nation refused to formally hand over the G20 presidency to the U.S. delegation.
“At the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our U.S. Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony,” Trump said. “Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year.”
Escalating his criticism, he added that the U.S. would be halting financial assistance to Pretoria.
“South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Meanwhile, the South African government has not yet formally responded to Trump’s remarks.
Since returning to the office in January, Trump has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority, including in May when he confronted his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, in the Oval Office.
The Trump administration has given Afrikaners refugee status, stating a “genocide” is taking place in South Africa. Last week, the White House announced plans to cap refugee admissions at a record low and give priority to white South Africans.
South Africa’s government said the claims of a white genocide are “widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence” and pointed to the “limited uptake” of this offer by South Africans.
The claims were dismissed as “clearly imagined” by a South African court in February.
