United States President Donald Trump has taken to social media to announce that South Africa will not be allowed to attend next year’s Group of 20 (G20) intergovernmental forum in Miami, Florida.

In Wednesday’s post, Trump renewed false claims that a white “genocide” was unfolding in the African country.

He also repeated his threat that South Africa would no longer receive funding from the US, a policy he put in place earlier this year.

“South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere,” Trump wrote. “We are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately.”

The message on Truth Social was the latest escalation in Trump’s ongoing feud with South Africa, a country he has accused of “shocking disregard” for the rights of white Afrikaners.

Human rights experts agree there is no basis for Trump’s claims of an Afrikaner genocide.

Yet, Trump has repeatedly cited such claims as he puts pressure on the government of his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa. He has also blamed the media for failing to carry his message.

“The South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Right [sic] Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers,” Trump wrote on Wednesday.

“To put it more bluntly, they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them. Perhaps, worst of all, the soon to be out of business New York Times and the Fake News Media won’t issue a word against this genocide.”

Passing the gavel

Trump’s latest comments come after an awkward diplomatic incident over the weekend, one that highlighted the increasingly fractious nature of US-South African relations.

In recent decades, the two countries have enjoyed largely amicable ties.

The US is South Africa’s second largest single-country trading partner, behind China, and business between the two countries is valued at approximately $26.2bn, as of 2024.

But last weekend’s G20 summit in the South African city of Johannesburg signalled how dramatically the relationship between the two countries had changed.

The summit was a big deal for Africa as a whole: It was the first time the continent had hosted the G20 leaders.

But while the US is typically a major presence at the G20, this time, the Trump administration decided to boycott the proceedings. Not only did Trump refuse to attend, but he also declined to send any top officials from Washington, DC, to the event.

“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” he wrote in a post on November 7.

“No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.”

The G20 has traditionally been a meeting ground for leaders from the European Union, the African Union and other major world economies to discuss technology, environmental initiatives and shared financial growth.

Next year, the summit is scheduled to take place in Miami. Traditionally, the host of the G20 summit closes the meeting by banging a gavel and then passing the little wooden hammer to officials from the next country to hold the meeting.

But on Sunday, Ramaphosa did not pass the gavel to anyone.

Trump confirmed reports on Wednesday that he had offered to send a member of the US Embassy to accept the gavel, but that the offer had been rejected by Ramaphosa’s administration as a slight.

“At the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our U.S. Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20.”

Heightened tensions

Ramaphosa largely avoided addressing the US absence during the G20 conference, instead underscoring his push for global unity and efforts to combat inequality.

“Our G20 Presidency has been rooted in the conviction that the world needs more solidarity, equality and sustainability,” Ramaphosa wrote on social media on Tuesday.

“While some have sought to create division and polarisation between nations, we have reinforced our shared humanity. We have fostered collaboration and goodwill. Above all, we have affirmed that our shared goals outweigh our differences.”

The increasingly hostile relations between South Africa and the US began early in Trump’s second term as president.

On February 7, Trump issued an executive action denouncing South Africa for alleged human rights abuses against white Afrikaners and saying that all aid and assistance to the country would stop.

As of fiscal year 2023, US assistance to South Africa totalled approximately $441.3m, according to government statistics. In fiscal year 2024, which is only partially reported at present, the total rose to approximately $581m.

In February’s order, Trump also directed US government agencies to assist in the resettlement of Afrikaners as “refugees” in the US.

He doubled down on that call in late October, when he set the lowest cap on refugee admissions in US history.

Of the 7,500 available refugee slots, the Trump administration called for the majority to be “allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa” and other “victims of illegal or unjust discrimination”.

In May, Trump also hosted Ramaphosa at the White House, where he attempted to confront the South African leader with accusations of genocide in his country. Some critics have compared the meeting to an “ambush”.

Ramaphosa, for his part, has repeatedly denied the accusations. When asked by reporters about the US boycotting the G20 this year, he said bluntly, “Their absence is their loss.”

HONOLULU (AP) — The on-and-off eruption that’s been dazzling residents and visitors on Hawaii’s Big Island for nearly a year resumed Tuesday as Kilauea volcano sent fountains of lava soaring 400 feet (122 meters) into the air.

The molten rock was confined within Kilauea’s summit caldera inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the U.S. Geological Survey said. No homes were threatened.

It’s the 37th time Kilauea has shot lava since last December, when the current eruption began.

The latest lava display was preceded by sporadic spattering and overflows that began Friday. Each eruptive episode has lasted about a day or less. The volcano has paused for at least a few days in between.

In some cases, Kilauea’s lava towers have soared as high as skyscrapers. The volcano has generated such tall fountains in part because magma — which holds gases that are released as it rises — has been traveling to the surface through narrow, pipelike vents.

Kilauea is on Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian archipelago. It’s about 200 miles (322 kilometers) south of the state’s largest city, Honolulu, which is on Oahu.

It’s one of the world’s most active volcanoes and one of six active volcanoes in Hawaii.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov suggested Moscow could reject the White House’s latest Ukraine peace deal framework if it doesn’t uphold the “spirit and letter” of the understandings reached at the August Alaska summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Lavrov said at a news conference Tuesday that Russia is awaiting the updated version of the Trump administration’s latest peace plan aimed at ending the nearly four-year war.

He warned that if the terms of the “key understandings” are “extinguished” then the situation would become “fundamentally different.”

Russia has maintained its maximalist demands in negotiations, insisting Ukraine be barred from joining NATO and required to give up the rest of the Donbas as part of any peace deal.

RUSSIA BOMBARDS KYIV, KILLING AT LEAST 6, AS TRUMP PEACE PLAN MOVES FORWARD

John Hardie, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Russia Program, told Fox News Digital Moscow’s intransigence over the past 10 months has been the main obstacle to Trump’s diplomatic efforts.

“The United States has really shot itself in the foot by kind of flip-flopping between strategies. One month you’re trying to pressure the Russians and saying they’re the obstacle to peace. The next minute you’re trying to, you know, force their terms on Kyiv,” said Hardie. 

“What we really need is sustained military support for Ukraine and economic pressure on Russia, and Putin has to realize that neither the Ukrainian military nor Western, especially U.S., resolve, are going to falter.”

Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman told “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Tuesday he remains skeptical about an end to the war, arguing the United States lacks the leverage to compel Moscow to halt its invasion.

NATO JETS SCRAMBLED AMID RUSSIA’S LARGEST DRONE ATTACK ON UKRAINE

“Vladimir Putin, his strategic objective has always been to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine. He’ll engage in negotiations, but he does it to ensure that he’s asserting the primacy of Russia in his self-designated sphere of influence,” said Hoffman. “I just don’t see any evidence that Russia is going to pause in their relentless attacks on Ukraine.”

Ukraine agreed Tuesday to a peace deal to end the war with Russia, but some details still need to be finalized, a U.S. official told Fox News.

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U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials in Abu Dhabi Monday and Tuesday to discuss the framework for a Ukraine peace deal. The U.S. official said a Ukrainian delegation was also in Abu Dhabi and in contact with Driscoll and his team.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report