Donald Trump has said the US will not attend the G20 summit in South Africa over widely discredited claims that white people are being persecuted in the country.
The US president described it as a total disgrace that South Africa is hosting the meeting, where leaders from the world's largest economies will gather in Johannesburg later this month.
South Africa's foreign ministry responded to the boycott as regrettable and noted that no political parties in the country have claimed that there is genocide occurring.
Trump criticized the G20 in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, stating, Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. No US government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue. He had previously suggested vice-president JD Vance would represent the US but reversed the decision, stating that no official will attend.
The South African government reiterated that characterization of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is misleading and emphasized that claims of their persecution lack factual support. They stated, The claim that this community faces persecution, is not substantiated by fact.\
Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly accused South Africa of discrimination against its white minority, including a confrontation with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May over similar claims. The Trump administration has even extended refugee status to Afrikaners, saying a genocide is occurring—claims that South Africa has stated are unsupported by credible evidence and have been dismissed by a local court.
The G20, which was founded in 1999 in response to the Asian financial crisis, aims to promote international cooperation on economic stability and includes representatives from the European Union and African Union. South Africa is hosting this year's summit, with the US slated to take its turn next.
