Why Trump 'snubbed' Ramaphosa at G7 summit amid Iran-Israel conflict
President Cyril Ramaphosa has concluded his working trip in Canada after he attended the G7 Leaders Summit where he was allegedly snubbed by US president Donald Trump.
Image: GCIS
US President Donald Trump appears to have snubbed his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa when he left the G7 Summit in Canada before the two could meet.
The latest developments raise further questions where SA-US relations stand after Ramaphosa led a delegation to the US in efforts to ‘reset’ strained relations over false claims by the Trump administration that there was white genocide in South Africa.
Trump is said to have left the G7 summit early to the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, which started just days before the summit.
The US is a strong Israeli ally and continues to support it with weapons, while accusing South Africa of backing the Iranian regime. Iran is now part of BRICS of which South Africa plays a major role.
Ramaphosa, who was accompanied by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, was an invited guest at the summit as the only African leader. He met with all other leaders on the sidelines of the summit, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and others.
The meeting between Trump and Ramaphosa was expected to discuss trade agreements, including the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and US-SA tariffs.
Trump has been vocal about his stance on the Iran-Israel conflict, hinting at the possibility of US involvement and warning Iran to consider talks with Israel to de-escalate the conflict.
Political analyst Sandile Swana said Trump's snub of Ramaphosa was likely due to pressure on Ramaphosa to support the US position on the Iran-Israel conflict.
He said Trump could not afford to be friendly to Ramaphosa when hostilities were escalating around Israel including Gaza and Iran.
“Trump wants South Africa to support the US…The issue of tariffs and all that is a bind for Trump because he wants to be friendly with Afrikaners and whites in South Africa…So he cannot deprive these white South Africans he wants to be friends with of the revenues that they can make from the US.
“The tariffs really pertain to the relationship between Trump and white South Africans and I still believe that Trump will give them what they want in exchange for them being a force against Ramaphosa and against the ANC…so that is an incentive, a pay-off for them for sustaining Trump's campaign in South Africa. This is just a white supremacist agenda,” Swana said.
Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that Ramaphosa will continue to assert South Africa's calls for de-escalation in conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere during his deliberations at the G7.
"For some time now, President Ramaphosa has been quite consistent in calling for the de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East," Magwenya said.
“Part of that call was to ensure that this conflict that we’ve seen in Gaza does not extend to the rest of the region and so one of Canada’s priorities for this G7 is this threatening of peace and stability, where we are going to align with the position in so far as calling for a peaceful resolution of all conflicts, Russia and Ukraine, India and Pakistan, Iran and Israel. Now we will continue making that call that those conflicts have to stop,” Magwenya said.
Cape Times