German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will urge US President Donald Trump to reconsider excluding South Africa from the 2026 G20 summit in Florida.
BERLIN: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he would urge US President Donald Trump to reconsider barring South Africa from the 2026 G20 summit.
The US decision follows tensions over various domestic and foreign policies, including Washington’s absence from last week’s G20 summit in Johannesburg.
Trump previously confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House over false “white genocide” claims.
On Wednesday, Trump cited alleged “horrific Human Rights Abuses” against white South Africans as justification for the exclusion.
“I will try… to convince him that it would be good to invite all members of the G20 to America,” Merz told a Berlin press conference.
The German chancellor expressed regret over the US absence from the Johannesburg summit.
Merz described the G20 as “one of the most important multilateral formats we still have in the world”.
He warned that alienating South Africa would ultimately harm Washington’s interests.
“The American government is needlessly relinquishing influence, including influence in a part of the world that is becoming increasingly important,” Merz said.
South Africa condemned what it called Trump’s “punitive measures… based on misinformation and distortions about our country”.
Additional disputes include South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Trump has also imposed 30% tariffs on South Africa, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
The G20 includes 19 countries plus the European Union and African Union, representing 85% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population. – AFP
