South Africa: US President Donald Trump sanctioned South Africa by cutting off US aid to the nation over the expropriation bill. USA plans to resettle Afrikaans farmers and their families as refugees.
Following this, US Secretary of State – Marco Rubio won’t attend the G-20 Summit in Johannesburg.
Reportedly, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order on Friday, Feb 07, 2025, formalizing his announcement earlier this week. He will freeze assistance to South Africa for a law with an objective to address some of the wrongs of the racists from apartheid era of South Africa, which is a law that the White House says amounts to discrimination against the white minority of the country.
White House summarised the order that says, “As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent disfavored minority farmers. The United States will stop aid and assistance to the country.”
The White House also said that the President Trump is also going to announce a program to resettle white South African farmers and their families as refugees.
Trump responded to the new law in South Africa that gave government the powers in some instances to expropriate land from people. The White House said that the law ‘blatantly discriminates against ethnic minority Afrikaners.’
Notably, the Expropriation Act was signed into law by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last month that allowed the government to take land in specific instances where it is not being used or where it would be in the public interest if it is redistributed.
The act aims to address some of the wrongs of South Africa’s racist apartheid era, when Black people had the land was taken away from them and were forced to live in areas designated for non-whites.
Renowned businessman and the owner of Tesla and SpaceX – Elon, who is also a close Trump ally and head of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, highlighted that law in recent social media posts and cast is a threat to South Africa’s white minority.
Furthermore, the order also follows the reference of South Africa’s role in bringing accusations of genocide against Israel before the International Court of Justice. The halt in foreign aid to South Africa comes amid a broader pause to most U.S. overseas assistance under the Trump, as he looks to shift to what he calls an ‘America First’ foreign policy.