Trump administration is not planning to invite South Africa to G20 in US, source says
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa meets with US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in May.
By Jennifer Hansler, CNN
(CNN) — The Trump administration is not planning to invite South Africa to take part in G20 events hosted in the United States next year, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
The exclusion of South Africa from the meetings of the world’s most important economies is an unprecedented step and would mark the first time a country was outright excluded from them in its more than 20-year history.
The US already boycotted the 2025 meeting in South Africa amid unfounded accusations that the government there is committing genocide against White South Africans.
Instead, the administration plans to invite Poland to participate at an elevated level at the 2026 gatherings, the source said.
South African Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya told CNN they’ve “heard similar speculation,” but “until we receive official communication, we will take it as mere speculation.”
CNN has asked the White House, the State Department for comment.
Poland, whose president has a warm relationship with US President Donald Trump, is actively seeking membership in the G20.
Karol Nawrocki said after meeting Trump in September that Trump invited him to attend the G20 summit in 2026. That summit will be hosted at the US president’s golf resort in Doral, Florida, in December 2026.
“It’s right next to the airport. It’s the best location. It’s beautiful,” Trump said in September.
Poland’s finance minister told Polish radio station RMF FM last month that, “given that we have had thirty-five years of uninterrupted economic growth and are the twentieth-largest economy in the world, ahead of, among others, Switzerland, our aspirations to join the G20 are entirely justified.”
Meanwhile, relations between the US and South Africa have plummeted under the Trump administration. In March, the State Department expelled the South African ambassador to the US, declaring him ‘persona non grata.’ Trump suspended aid to South Africa, alleging discrimination against White farmers in February.
South Africa wrapped up its chairmanship of the group earlier this month, without the US present to receive the gavel as they took on the chairmanship.
CNN’s Nimi Princewill contributed reporting.
The-CNN-Wire
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