President Donald Trump threatened to cut all future funding to South Africa to punish the government for allowing ‘human rights violations.’
In the first month of his second presidential term, Trump has set to work imposing tariffs on foreign nations, sparking retaliatory measures in return from both Mexico and Canada.
Undeterred, Trump shared to Truth Social on Sunday that he’s now set his sights on South Africa – in an apparent reaction to a law over land expropriation.
‘South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,’ he wrote.
‘It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention.
‘A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. The United States won’t stand for it, we will act.
‘Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!’
It is unclear what led to Trump’s post, but his billionaire buddy Elon Musk, who has become a close ally of the President recently, was born in South Africa.
President Donald Trump will cut all future funding to South Australia to punish the government for allowing ‘human rights violations’
Last month, center-left South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was not worried about the country’s relationship with Trump
In 2023, Musk replied on X to a video of a far-left South African political party singing an old anti-apartheid song, ‘Kill the Boer’, by stating: ‘They are openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa.’
Critics have branded the law as unfair, particularly since it permits land seizure without compensation under certain circumstances.
The United States allocated nearly $440 million in assistance to South Africa in 2023, the most recent government data showed.
Last month, center-left South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was not worried about the country’s relationship with Trump.
He said he had spoken to Trump after the latter’s election victory and looked forward to working with his administration.
Ramaphosa recently signed a land reform measure ‘in the public interest’ designed to address racial inequality dating back to apartheid.
‘This momentous achievement reinforces the ANC’s dedication to addressing the persistent legacy of colonial dispossession and apartheid spatial planning, ensuring that the land and resources of South Africa are used to benefit the majority of its people,’ he said at the time.
The measure permits land seizure without compensation in some circumstances.
During his first administration, Trump said the U.S. would investigate unproven large-scale killings of white farmers in South Africa and violent takeovers of land.
South Africa currently holds the G20 presidency, after which the U.S. takes over.
President Trump launched a global trade war since returning to the White House, but promised Americans any short term pain they’ll feel will be ‘worth the price’ to create a ‘Golden Age of America.’
Trump signed an executive order Saturday to impose stiff 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada – despite the neighbors sharing a free trade pact – and hit China with a 10 per cent tariff in addition to already enacted levies.
Trump shared to Truth Social on Sunday that he’s now set his sights on South Africa
The president had vowed since before his inauguration to take such action, claiming the countries were not doing enough to halt illegal immigration and the trafficking of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the US.
The trade penalties that Trump signed Saturday at his Florida resort caused a mix of panic, anger and uncertainty, and threatened to rupture a decades-old partnership on trade in North America while further straining relations with China.
But by following through on a campaign pledge, Trump may have simultaneously broken his promise to voters in last year’s election that his administration could quickly reduce inflation.
‘Will there be some pain? Yes, maybe (and maybe not!)’ Trump wrote Sunday morning in all-caps on his Truth Social media platform, defending his executive order.
‘But we will Make America Great Again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.’
And on Truth Social, he slammed any criticism of tariffs, insisting that ‘anybody that’s against Tariffs… is only against them because these people or entities are controlled by China, or other foreign or domestic companies.
‘Anybody that loves and believes in the United States of America is in favor of Tariffs. They should have never ended, in favor of the Income Tax System, in 1913.
‘The response to Tariffs has been FANTASTIC!’
In a separate social media post, Trump called again for America’s northern neighbor to become a US state, heightening tensions further with one of his country’s closest allies
President Donald Trump has insisted that the economic ‘pain’ from his global trade war is ‘worth the price’ to create a ‘golden age of America’
Trump has placed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods, with a 10 per cent tax on oil, natural gas and electricity. Canada is imposing 25 per cent tariffs on more than $155billion on US products, including alcohol and fruit.
Trump railed against Canada’s trade surplus with the US: ‘We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use.’
Despite Trump’s claim that the US does not need Canada, one-quarter of the oil that the America consumes per day is from its ally to the north.
He said if Canada accepted his proposal to become the ‘cherished 51st state of America‘, the nation would enjoy the benefit of ‘no tariffs.’
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum meanwhile said she had directed her economy minister to ‘implement Plan B,’ which includes ‘tariff and non-tariff measures.’
