South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced Thursday that the country intends to engage with the new US administration to address various diplomatic, trade, and political matters. This follows a period of sharp criticism from former US President Donald Trump.
Ramaphosa revealed that Pretoria plans to send a delegation to Washington to discuss a range of issues. Speaking at an event during the G20 meetings in South Africa, which were boycotted by the US Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury, Ramaphosa emphasized, “We want to go to the United States to strike a deal. We’re not looking to explain ourselves; we want to make a meaningful agreement with the US on a range of issues,” he said in a discussion with Goldman Sachs Vice Chairman, Richard Gnodde.
The remarks follow Trump’s earlier accusations that the South African government was “confiscating” land from white farmers. Trump also threatened to cut off funding, referring to a new law signed by Ramaphosa last month that allows for the expropriation of land with no compensation in certain cases, aimed at redressing historic land ownership inequalities post-apartheid.
Ramaphosa noted that he had a “wonderful” conversation with Trump early in his presidency in January, but relations later became strained. The US Secretary of State and Treasury Secretary subsequently chose to skip the G20 ministerial meetings in South Africa this month.
The United States is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner, and next year will assume the rotating presidency of the G20.
“We need to reach an agreement on trade, diplomatic, and political issues—a wide range of topics,” Ramaphosa concluded. “It’s inevitable that we will come together and make a deal”.
