Trump: No US Officials Attending G20 In South Africa

President Donald Trump on Friday announced that no US officials would attend the Group of 20 summit in South Africa later this month, citing the country's treatment of white farmers.

"It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa," Trump posted on his Truth Social network.

The Trump administration has long accused the South African government of discriminating against its white minority, citing alleged land seizures and violence.

The South African government has denied that Afrikaners and other white South Africans are being persecuted.

"No US government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue," Trump said in his post.

Trump said at a business event earlier this week in Miami that South Africa should be thrown out of the group of the world's largest economies, saying: "South Africa shouldn't even be in the Gs anymore, because what"s happened there is bad."

JD Vance plans to skip summit

Trump announced in September he would skip the G20 summit this year, but that Vice President JD Vance would attend in his place.

On Friday, as Trump broke news that US officials plan to skip the summit, Reuters news agency reported an official, without naming the person, as saying that "the vice president is not traveling to South Africa for the G20, nor does he have any plans for international travel in the near term."

Each year, a different country assumes the G20 presidency and sets the agenda for that year, with the US due to take on the role after this year's summit on November 22-23.

Trump plans to hold next year's summit at his golf resort in Miami — at the same location he proposed to host the 2020 Group of Seven (G7) summit during his first term.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar

Source: DW