Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa. (Photo: Jairus Rabbit/GCIS)
The USA apparently put pressure on France to pres. To withdraw Cyril Ramaphosa’s invitation to the G7 summit in France in June. So the South African presidency told AFP on Thursday.
This is the latest incident after months of tension between the two countries over a series of issues, from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel to pres. Donald Trump’s claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted.
“We learned that due to sustained pressure, France had to withdraw its invitation to South Africa to attend the G7 summit,” Vincent Magwenya, spokesman for the president, told AFP.
“The Americans threatened to boycott the G7 summit if South Africa was invited,” he said.
“So South Africa will not participate in this G7 summit,” he added.
Trump repeatedly clashed with the South African government and hit the country with high import tariffs, reprimanded Ramaphosa in the White House over allegations of a “white genocide”, and boycotted a G20 summit in Johannesburg in November.
Last year, Trump imposed import tariffs of 30% on most South African exports. The US Supreme Court has since struck down Trump’s tariff policy.
Trump also criticized South Africa’s racial policy.
Cyril Ramaphosa and French President Emmanuel Macron. (Photo: Halden Krog /Pool/AFP)
The Trump administration also clashed with Ramaphosa’s government over South Africa’s decision to enter into a lawsuit with Israel in the International Court of Justice over alleged genocide after that country’s invasion of Gaza.
Since the boycott of last year’s G20 summit, South Africa has been excluded from the G7 summit, of which Washington holds the rotating presidency this year.
It was during the very G20 summit in South Africa that Emmanuel Macron, the French president, personally invited Ramaphosa to participate in the G7 summit, Magwenya said.
The group of seven industrialized countries often extends its work to other invited countries such as Brazil, India and South Korea. In this way, South Africa was invited to the G7 hosted by Canada this year.
“This will have no impact on the strength and close nature of our bilateral relationship with France,” Magwenya said.
“Despite all these developments, South Africa remains committed to engaging constructively with the USA,” he said.
“The diplomatic relationship between the US and South Africa began before the Trump administration and will survive the current term of the White House.”