Trump to meet with South African president amid tensions over aid, Afrikaners, Israel: Live updates

Ramaphosa is expected to offer Trump a broad trade deal, as well as specific deals such as duty-free access for Musk’s Tesla electric vehicles in exchange for the firm building charging stations, and potential licensing for Musk’s Starlink company.

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, who is in Ramaphosa’s delegation, said he was focused on securing and expanding South African farmers’ duty-free access to the U.S. market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

AGOA is at risk from Trump’s tariff regime, which is currently suspended but would hit South Africa with a 30 percent duty if enacted.

For his part, Trump is likely to demand that U.S. companies be exempted from “racial requirements,” a White House official said.

South Africa has laws to compel businesses to hire and promote Black South Africans, including a requirement for large companies in some sectors, such as mining and telecoms, to have a 30 percent equity stake held by disadvantaged groups.

Ramaphosa is unlikely to agree to weaken such rules, which are core to his government’s aspiration to restore racial justice after centuries of colonialism and apartheid.

South Africa formally accused Israel of genocide in charges filed at the International Court of Justice in late 2023.

At the time, President Joe Biden’s administration called the allegations brought by Pretoria “meritless”.

Then-National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the court submission was “counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever”.

South Africa brought the charges to the United Nations’s top court at The Hague on December 29, citing prohibitions against genocide under international law banning killings or other actions “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

The case accuses Israel of acting “in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention” while conducting the war against Hamas it has been prosecuting since the 7 October 2023 terrorist attacks by the militant group killed more than 1,000 Israelis.

At that point, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said more than 21,000 Gaza residents have been killed, including more than 300 killed in UN-run shelters.

According to the ICJ, Israel is specifically accused of “acts and omissions” that “are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza”.

In response, Israel said the South African court action amounts to the country “calling for the destruction of the State of Israel”.

“Israel is committed to international law and acts in accordance with it, and directs its military efforts only against the Hamas terrorist organization and the other terrorist organisations cooperating with Hamas,” the Israeli government said in a statement.

South African billionaire Johann Rupert, accompanying President Ramaphosa today, is the founder of the Richemont luxury goods group that owns brands like Cartier.

He is an important investor in his home country and helped bring about Ramaphosa’s meeting with Trump, South African media reported.

Ernie Els, a former world number one golfer and four-time major champion, also played a part, according to the reports.

Both men have played golf with Trump. Neither responded to requests for comment from Reuters.

As recently as May 12, Donald Trump claimed that the U.S. media were refusing to write about a supposed “genocide” taking place in South Africa, given that the alleged victims were white.

He made the comments in the Oval Office during a brief media availability centered around the signing of an executive order aimed at establishing price controls for prescription drugs. The president’s remarks came as the first flight of white South African “refugees” was set to imminently disembark at Dulles airport.

Welcome to our rolling coverage of today’s meeting between President Donald Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa.

Trump is set to greet his South African counterpart outside the White House at 11:30 a.m. ET this morning before a bilateral lunch in the Cabinet room.

That will be followed by a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at 12:45 p.m.

Joining the South African delegation will be luxury goods tycoon Johann Rupert and champion golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.

Vice President JD Vance and South African-born Elon Musk, a harsh critic of Ramaphosa will accompany Trump.