South Africa’s exclusion from the G7 summit in France which was announced yesterday, marks the culmination of months of escalating tensions between Pretoria and Washington under US President Donald Trump.

The South African presidency confirmed on Thursday that France had withdrawn President Cyril Ramaphosa’s invitation to the summit in Evian in June after the United States threatened to boycott the meeting if South Africa attended.

“We’ve learnt that due to sustained pressure, France has had to withdraw its invitation to South Africa to attend the G7 meeting,” presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told AFP.

“We are told that the Americans threatened to boycott the G7 if South Africa was invited,” he said.

The disinvitation follows a series of clashes between the Trump administration and the South African government over trade, race relations and foreign policy.

Trump imposed 30% tariffs on most South African exports last year, the highest rate for any sub-Saharan African country. The US Supreme Court has since overruled the tariffs policy, but the move had already strained bilateral relations.

The US president has also criticised South Africa’s racial justice policies, which were enacted to address historic inequalities left by colonial rule and apartheid. During a meeting with Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, Trump berated the South African leader over discredited claims of a “white genocide”, condemning the country’s transformation policies as discriminatory against whites.

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Relations deteriorated further when South Africa took US ally Israel to the International Court of Justice for allegedly committing genocide in its war in Gaza, a move that drew sharp criticism from the Trump administration.

In November, Trump boycotted the G20 summit held in Johannesburg, where French President Emmanuel Macron personally invited Ramaphosa to participate in the G7. The Group of Seven industrialised nations often extends invitations to other countries to participate in its work.

Despite the withdrawal of the invitation, Magwenya said the incident would not affect South Africa’s relationship with France.

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“This will have no impact on the strength and close nature of our bilateral relationship with France,” he said.

He added that South Africa remained committed to constructive engagement with the United States, noting that diplomatic relations between the two countries predated the Trump administration and would outlive his current term in office.

The G7 summit is scheduled to take place in Evian in June.

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