Ramaphosa to meet Trump face-to-face to resolve diplomatic fallout

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet face-to-face with US President Donald Trump to discuss the diplomatic fallout between the two countries.

A phone call this week between Ramaphosa and Trump appeared to have made strides towards resolving the simmering tensions between the US and South Africa.

Diplomatic fallout

Relations between the US and South Africa are at an all-time low after Trump cut financial aid to South Africa, citing Pretoria taking Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and “strengthening ties with Iran, which supports terrorism globally”.

Tensions between the two countries were further heightened following former South African ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool’s recent remarks on Trump.

Rasool was expelled by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he claimed in a webinar that Trump (and, later, Elon Musk) are leading a global white supremacist movement.

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Speaking to Trump

In the phone call this week, Ramaphosa said he had spoken to Trump.

“President Trump and I also agreed to meet soon to address this and various matters regarding relations between South Africa and the United States. We both spoke about the need to foster good relations between our two countries.”

Ramaphosa and Trump are said to have now agreed to meet in person, possibly on the sidelines of a US-Africa summit in the next three months, according to the Sunday Times.

The agreement was clinched when the two presidents spoke ahead of this week’s state visit to South Africa by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. He cut short his visit immediately after meeting Ramaphosa due to a Russian air strike on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.

Face to face

This will be the first face-to-face meeting between Ramaphosa and Trump since the latter’s election as US president.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed the two presidents had agreed to meet.

“Both President Ramaphosa and President Trump have agreed on the need to meet soon and to work on resetting the bilateral relationship. At a personal level, both presidents interact in a cordial and friendly manner.”

Phiri added that there was a “general appetite” to normalise the relationship between the two countries.

 “It will be through their leadership that the relationship will be normalised. Teams on both sides will work on facilitating the meeting and obviously managing a number of scheduling and logistical considerations.”

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Criticising SA

Senior government insiders said the fact that Trump and Ramaphosa had spoken for the second time in three months was a significant development. The first call between the two presidents came when Ramaphosa congratulated Trump on his election victory.

Since his return to the White House, Trump has criticised the South African government, saying “terrible things” were happening in the country after the passing of the Expropriation Act, which he believes is pushing Afrikaner farmers out of the country.

Trump has since offered them refuge in the US with an expedited pathway to US citizenship.

According to Trump, “any farmer” who is “seeking to flee” South Africa “for reasons of safety” can now apply to become a US citizen – rather than a refugee.

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