Trump blocks South Africa from 2026 G20 summit for alleged ‘horrific human rights abuses’

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he would not invite South Africa to the 2026 G-20 summit in Florida, citing alleged “horrific human rights abuses.”

“To put it more bluntly, they are killing white people and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them,” Trump alleged in a Truth Social post. “At my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G-20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year,” he added.

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The Embassy of South Africa did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Clayson Monyela, head of diplomacy for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, dismissed the notion that South Africa could be shut out.

“South Africa is a founding member of the G-20. We don’t get invited to G-20 meetings and leaders summit. Those are gatherings of members. If other members allow this then the G-20 will die,” Monyela told Fox News Digital.

“Other countries have already told us that they too will boycott the U.S. G-20 if South Africa is excluded,” Monyela added.

If carried out, the move would break with more than two decades of precedent and mark the first time a member has been formally excluded from the gathering of the world’s major economies.

The G-20, which brings together major advanced and emerging economies and accounts for roughly 80% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population, has historically operated on the principle of inclusion.

That tradition already was strained after the U.S. boycott of the 2025 meeting held in Johannesburg earlier in November.

The Trump administration argued that the country’s government had failed to address violence and discrimination it claimed was occurring in rural farming communities. Additionally, the U.S. objected to the meeting’s focus on climate and development issues rather than core economic priorities.

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The boycott marked a notable break from past U.S. engagement, leaving the world’s largest economy missing from a key forum for global economic policymaking.

Trump also said in the same Truth Social post that he would halt U.S. payments to South Africa.

“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,” Trump wrote.

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for further details.

It remains unclear how the move will affect the country’s standing within the G-20 or broader U.S.–South Africa relations ahead of the 2026 summit in Florida.

Relations between Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have steadily deteriorated in recent months.

In February, Trump suspended U.S. aid to South Africa, alleging discrimination against White farmers. Tensions escalated again in March when the State Department expelled the South African ambassador, labeling him “persona non grata.”

In May, the two leaders clashed in the Oval Office when Trump pressed Ramaphosa over allegations that White Afrikaners were being targeted and killed in South Africa. 

Ramaphosa pushed back, telling Trump he had seen no evidence to support those claims.

Paul Tilsley contributed to this report from Johannesburg, South Africa.