JOHANNESBURG: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet US counterpart Donald Trump in Washington next week at a time of strained ties between the two countries, Pretoria said in a statement released late on Wednesday.
Tensions have been rising for months over a range of policy issues, culminating this week in the United States resettling a first group of white Afrikaners that Trump claims are facing “persecution” in South Africa.
“On Wednesday, 21 May 2025, President Ramaphosa will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington DC to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of interest,“ Ramaphosa’s office said.
The visit “provides a platform to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries”, it said.
The US administration has torn into various South African policies, including its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and a land expropriation law meant to redress historical inequalities that Washington alleges will allow the government to seize white-owned land.
Trump essentially halted refugee arrivals after taking office but is making an exception for the Afrikaners — mainly descendants of Dutch settlers to South Africa — despite Pretoria’s insistence that they do not face persecution in their homeland.
White South Africans, who make up 7.3 percent of the population, generally enjoy a higher standard of living than the black majority of the country.
Washington cut aid to South Africa and in March expulsed Pretoria’s ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, after he criticised Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement in an online seminar.
Pretoria has said Trump’s claims are “entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy”.
Following the arrival of a first group of 49 Afrikaners in the US on Monday, South Africa’s Deputy President Paul Mashatile said Trump had been “lied to”.
“There’s no genocide here. We are beautiful, happy people, black and white working and living together,“ he told journalists, adding that Ramaphosa would “invite President Trump” to visit “our beautiful country”.
Trade discussions should also be expected from Ramaphosa’s “working visit” to the US, which will last from Monday to Thursday.
The US is South Africa’s second-biggest trade partner but Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs in April — now paused for 90 days — has ignited fears for key sectors, including the automobile industry and citrus production.
