Ramaphosa to meet Trump ‘soon’ to discuss strained South Africa-US relations

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday he will “meet soon” with U.S. President Donald Trump to discuss relations between the two countries.

Ramaphosa said he had spoken to Trump and the two leaders had also agreed to discuss the peace process in Ukraine and the end to the Russia-Ukraine war.

“We both agreed that the war should be brought to an end as soon as possible to stop further unnecessary deaths. We both agreed to meet soon to address various matters regarding U.S.-South Africa relations,” Ramaphosa said in a post on social media platform X.

“We also spoke about the need to foster good relations between our two countries,” he added.

Ramaphosa did not indicate when the meeting with Trump was likely to take place.

Relations between South Africa and the U.S. have deteriorated since Trump took office earlier this year.

Trump has criticized South Africa’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war, which has seen the country take Israel to the International Court of Justice and accuse it of committing a genocide in Gaza.

Trump has also signed an executive order stopping all financial aid to South Africa and has also slapped South Africa with 37% trade tariffs on its exports to the U.S., which he subsequently paused for 90 days.

The cuts were an additional blow to the country after it also lost U.S. funding for its key health programmes including the fight against HIV.

Trump has also falsely accused South Africa of illegally seizing farms owned by white Afrikaner farmers after it enacted the Expropriation Act which empowers the government to expropriate land for public use.

He has offered to facilitate the resettlement of white Afrikaner farmers who wish to leave South Africa and move to the U.S.

Last month, the U.S. expelled Ebrahim Rasool, the South African ambassador to the U.S., over his criticism of Trump, who has hinted that he may not attend the G20 summit of world leaders scheduled to take place in Johannesburg in November.

Ramaphosa revealed his conversation with Trump as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was on an official visit to South Africa.

Zelenskyy held a planned meeting with Ramaphosa at the government’s Union Buildings in Pretoria.