President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he may skip the G20 summit in South Africa in November over the nation’s "very bad policies," and instead send someone else to represent the United States.
Trump made the remarks aboard Air Force One in response to a reporter's question as he returned from a trip to Scotland, where the president achieved a massive trade deal with the European Union.
"I think maybe I'll send somebody else because I've had a lot of problems with South Africa," Trump said. "They have some very bad policies."
"Very, very bad policies, like policies where people are being killed," Trump added.
TRUMP'S CRITICISM OF SOUTH AFRICA'S VIOLENT CRIME CRISIS RECEIVES UNEXPECTED LOCAL SUPPORT
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One after leaving Aberdeen, Scotland, on Tuesday en route to Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
In May, Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House with news clippings and a video allegedly showing grave treatment of White farmers.
President Donald Trump and Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump has claimed that White Afrikaner South African farmers are being slaughtered and forced off their land. The Afrikaners are descendants of mostly Dutch settlers who first arrived in South Africa in 1652.
South Africa and its president have denied claims of genocide and harassment.
Trump shows pictures as he meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 21, 2025. Ramaphosa met Trump amid tensions over Washington's resettlement of white Afrikaners who Trump claims are the victims of "genocide." (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio already boycotted a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in South Africa earlier this year over the government's controversial land seizure policy.
Both the Trump and former Biden administrations have also criticized South Africa after the nation accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and brought a case to the International Court of Justice.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.