South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has been uninvited from the G7 summit in Evian, France, in June due to pressure from the United States, the South African presidency confirmed to AFP on Thursday.
The decision follows months of tensions between Pretoria and Washington under US President Donald Trump, spanning trade disputes and criticisms of South Africa’s race relations policies. “We are told that the Americans threatened to boycott the G7 if South Africa was invited,” a presidency official stated.
Trump has repeatedly confronted Ramaphosa’s government: imposing 30% tariffs last year on most South African exports—the highest for any sub-Saharan African nation berating the president in the Oval Office over debunked claims of a “white genocide,” and skipping a G20 summit in Johannesburg last November.
(The US Supreme Court later struck down those tariffs.)The US leader has also attacked South Africa’s racial justice measures, designed to redress apartheid-era inequalities but labeled by Trump as anti-white discrimination.
Tensions escalated further when South Africa hauled US ally Israel before the International Court of Justice, accusing it of genocide in Gaza.The invitation had come directly from French President Emmanuel Macron during the G20 in South Africa, as the G7 often extends outreach to non-members.