President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that South Africa will not receive an invitation to next year's G20 summit in Miami, making the country the first member ever blocked from attending the international forum.

The decision came in a post on Truth Social, where Trump cited South Africa's refusal to hand over the rotating G20 presidency to a senior U.S. Embassy representative at the conclusion of this year's summit in Johannesburg. The United States had boycotted the gathering, which ran from November 22-23, and was the first G20 summit held on the African continent.

"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 wrote. "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."

Trump also announced an immediate halt to U.S. financial assistance to the country. "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," he wrote.

The G20 presidency rotates annually among member nations. South Africa assumed the role in December 2024 and held it through November, after which the United States took over. The next summit is scheduled for December 14-15, 2026, at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Florida.

South Africa's Response

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's office issued a statement describing Trump's announcement as a "regrettable statement" and characterized the disinvitation as a punitive measure based on false information.

The office disputed Trump's account of the G20 handover ceremony. "As the United States was not present at the summit, instruments of the G20 Presidency were duly handover to a US Embassy official at the Headquarters of South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation," the statement read.

The South African government rejected the notion that it had snubbed the United States. Rather, officials said they declined to have Ramaphosa personally hand the presidency to a lower-ranking American diplomat.

"The United States is a member of the G20, and if they want to be represented, they can still send anyone at the right level," Ramaphosa said during the summit. His spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, added that the president "will not hand over to a junior embassy official the presidency of the G20."

"It's a breach of protocol that is not going to be accommodated," Magwenya said.

The South African government also pushed back against Trump's broader claims about the country. "South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its worth in participating in global platforms," Ramaphosa's office stated, adding that South Africa will "never insult another country."

The Underlying Dispute

Trump's decision to bar South Africa stems from his repeated claims that the country is persecuting white Afrikaner farmers. In his Wednesday post, the president stated that the United States boycotted this year's summit "because the South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Right Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers."

"To put it more bluntly, they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them," Trump wrote.

South African officials have consistently denied these allegations. The country's Department of International Relations and Cooperation stated in November that claims of persecution "is not substantiated by fact."

"The South African Police Services statistics on farm-related crimes do not support allegations of violent crime targeted at farmers generally or any particular race," the ministry said in a separate statement.

The department also noted that "the characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical."

Afrikaners are South Africans descended mainly from Dutch settlers, along with French and German colonial immigrants who first arrived in the 17th century. They were central to the apartheid system of white minority rule from 1948 to 1994. There are an estimated 2.7 million Afrikaners in South Africa's population of 62 million.

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has implemented affirmative action and Black Economic Empowerment policies. The government has denied seizing land belonging to white citizens.

Escalating Tensions

Relations between Washington and Pretoria have deteriorated significantly since Trump returned to office in January. The Trump administration has characterized South Africa as anti-American due to its diplomatic ties with China, Russia, and Iran, as well as its accusations that Israel committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.

In May, Trump hosted Ramaphosa at the White House for what was intended as a reset of relations between the two countries. The meeting took a contentious turn when Trump played a five-minute video on television screens in the Oval Office that he said documented evidence of crimes against humanity targeting white South Africans. Ramaphosa was reportedly caught off guard by the presentation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio boycotted a meeting of G20 foreign ministers held in South Africa in February. Earlier this month, Trump announced the U.S. would skip the G20 leaders' summit entirely.

"It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa," Trump wrote on Truth Social on November 7. "Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue."

The Trump administration has granted refugee status to some white South Africans. In May, the administration welcomed a group of 59 white South Africans as refugees. Last month, the administration announced it would restrict annual refugee admissions to 7,500, with most spots reserved for white South Africans.

G20 Membership and Summit Implications

The Group of 20 consists of 19 countries, plus the European Union and the African Union. Any change in membership would require consensus among all G20 nations, as was the case when the African Union was admitted as a full member ahead of the 2023 summit in India.

South African officials have indicated concern that the United States could seek to remove the country from the group entirely. In its statement, Ramaphosa's office emphasized that South Africa "is a member of the G20 in its own name and right" and that its membership "is at the behest of all other members."

During the Johannesburg summit, G20 leaders adopted a declaration addressing climate concerns and other global issues despite U.S. objections. The declaration, drafted without American input, went unsigned by Washington.

Magwenya told reporters the document "can't be renegotiated." The White House responded by accusing South Africa of having "weaponized" its leadership of the group. G20 declarations are typically adopted by unanimous consent.

The 2026 summit will mark the first time the United States has hosted the G20 since 2009. Trump announced in September that the event would be held at his family's golf club in Doral, Florida.

"It's the best location, it's beautiful, beautiful everything," Trump said at the time, adding that his business would not profit from hosting the summit. "We're doing a deal where it's not going to be money. There's no money in it. I just want it to go well."