US President Donald Trump has agreed that the US will participate in G20 events including the upcoming G20 summit in SA, after a bilateral meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa in which the two leaders discussed a range of trade and investment issues.
The meeting, described by Ramaphosa in his weekly newsletter as “substantive”, covered the future of relations between Pretoria and Washington, including commercial ties, market access and the potential expansion of American business interests in SA.
The US president’s decision for Washington to participate in the high-level forum marks a departure from his previous, sceptical stance on multilateral institutions. Trump had said he was unlikely to attend the G20 summit in November, citing false claims of “white genocide” and racial discrimination in SA.
As the current chair of the G20, SA has outlined trade equity, development financing and institutional reform as central pillars of its agenda for the summit.
“One of the key outcomes of the substantive discussions we had with President Trump was agreement on an economic co-operation channel between the US administration and SA to engage further on tariffs and a broad range of trade matters,” Ramaphosa said.
“President Trump agreed that the US should continue playing a key role in the G20, including attending the G20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg later this year, where SA will hand over the presidency of the G20 to the US.
“We have extended an invitation to President Trump to send a government and business delegation to SA to explore opportunities for deepening investment and trade.”
We have extended an invitation to President Trump to send a government and business delegation to SA to explore opportunities for deepening investment and trade.
Last week’s high-level meeting between Ramaphosa and Trump signalled a significant deterioration in relations between SA and its second-largest trading partner.
Tensions between SA and the US reached a high after the renewed circulation of claims alleging a campaign of “white genocide” in the country — rhetoric Pretoria has firmly condemned as false and inflammatory.
However, BrandSA CEO Neville Matjie says despite challenges from false narratives about white genocide and farm murders, SA’s international standing remains strong.
“In my engagement with the US companies in the SA market, they know the truth. But generally speaking, those who know international politics, understand country analysis and where we come from as a country, know SA most certainly stands by the cause of human rights.
“We’re a democracy. Freedom of speech is enshrined in our constitution ... People can say what they want, and we’re not going to throw people in jail just for giving their own views,” Matjie said regarding the impact of the “white genocide” claims in SA.
Meanwhile, the SA government has sought to strengthen its relations with its other major trading partners in a bid to ease reliance on the US.
The EU, China and Canada have separately expressed support for SA’s G20 presidency after Trump’s actions.
During last week’s SA-France investment conference in Paris, deputy president Paul Mashatile assured French businesses who were interested in investing in SA that the country was “looking at regulations, our procurement policies and legislation to ensure there’s an ease of doing business”.
“The feedback from the business delegation here [France] was quite positive,” said higher education deputy minister Buti Manamela, who was also part of the SA delegation to France.
Update: May 27 2025
This article has been updated to reflect that the US has agreed to participate in SA’s G20 events.
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