US President Donald Trump on Friday signed aid to freeze an executive order to South Africa, citing a recent land law passed by the country, saying that the US leader and his allies They claim that they discriminate with white farmers.
But the relief block is the end of a series of pressure sites only between the United States and South Africa, which was also being built during the Biden administration, and is now bursting under Trump.
We track the slide in bilateral relations between the two countries and discover what if the relationship is more spiral, what is the risk of losing each of them.
What did Trump say by banning South Africa’s aid?
On February 2, Trump posted on his social platform, “South Africa is seizing the land, and treating some sections of people very badly.
He wrote, “The United States will not stand for it, we will act.” “In addition, I will eliminate all future funds to South Africa until a thorough investigation of the situation is complete!”
After this executive order, Trump then claimed February 7 that the confiscation law passed in December, “” enables the South African government to occupy the agricultural property of ethnic minority Africans without any compensation. “
The order states that “This Act follows countless government policies that are designed to eliminate employment, education, and equal opportunities in business, and against hateful statements and racial landlords. Official operations that have led to proportional violence have been followed. “
The next day, he addressed the reporters and doubled the comments. “There are terrible things happening in South Africa,” he said, citing land law.
In the executive order, the United States also offered to resettle African South Africans, the suggestion that African groups rejected, including those who lobed the United States and Trump, especially against the South African government. Has
Has Trump’s assistants also invaded South Africa?
From US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to South African -born Multi Black and Trump’s adviser Elon Musk, Broad Sides against South Africa have been in disrepair since the US president’s first comments.
A day after Trump’s early comments, when South African President Seerl Ramfosa defended the law of land on X, Musk – the richest man in the world – replied: “Why do you have racism laws? “
On Wednesday, Rubio announced on the X that he would not attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg. South Africa is doing a lot of bad things. Loss of private property.
South Africa, which is chaired by the G20 block of 20 major economies, is hosting the group’s Foreign Ministers on February 20-21.
What is the truth about the law of land?
As Al Jazeera’s Kanita Hunter explained in this piece, the South African government has insisted that there is no compulsion there, and that any conflict will be “constitutionally legal”.
Experts have criticized efforts to suggest that South Africa’s law is similar to forcibly seizing land belonging to Zimbabwe’s white farmers since the 2000s.
South Africa’s law bans land discretionary occupation and in most cases provides compensation. For this, the authorities also need to try to reach a reasonable agreement with the landlord before, only failing to seize the land.
Land can be confiscated only for public purposes – such as construction of schools, hospitals or highways – or for the public interest, which includes land reforms. South Africa’s minority white community, which is 7 % of the population – after more than three decades of collapse, which controls more than 70 % of the country’s land.
Nevertheless, the white South African farmer has long been Trump’s obsession.
In 2018, during his first term, Trump alleged that South Africa had witnessed the “mass killings” of white farmers. There is no evidence to support the claim, and at that time South Africa said that Trump was given false information.
But while Trump’s attacks on South Africa say that according to the story of the white hunting that the US president’s political movement has long relied, the tensions between the nations have not ended in the four years of Biden.
In fact, they stood up.
Has South Africa’s position about Israel affected US relations?
In early 2024, South Africa’s then foreign minister, Nely Pandor, went to the United States on a crisis -management journey.
The US Congress was discussing a bill to punish South Africa for criticizing Israel’s brutal war against Gaza, which has now killed more than 61,000 people, including many missing persons. There are now those who are now considered dead.
South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice in Hague in December 2023, and accused of committing genocide in Gaza. Since then, the ICJ has approved interim orders against Israel, while many countries have joined the case of South Africa.
The ICJ has not yet issued its final decision, but some US members of the Congress have decided that South Africa needs to pay the price.
The United States’ South Africa Bilateral Relations Review Act, which was introduced almost a year ago in the US home on February 6, 2024, on South Africa, including “US -designated foreign terrorist organization and a proxy The Iranian government was accused of being associated with malicious actors.
In Washington, Pandor tried to meet members of the Congress and spoke to tanks tanks to describe the roots of Israeli policies against Palestine and the roots of South Africa’s opposition to the genocide in Gaza.
The bill is yet to be left, but Trump has also termed South Africa’s Israeli policy in his recent comments in his executive order and Rubio as a cause for Washington’s shock.
“South Africa have taken aggressive positions in the International Court of Justice for genocide, and to restore its relations with Iran to promote trade, military and nuclear arrangements, of which Israel, also accuses Hamas of genocide. ” The order said.
But what are South Africa taking “aggressive actions” against the United States? Rubio also accused South Africa of “anti -US”. Who was he talking about?
The 2024 bill in Congress offers a glimpse of deep strategic tensions that have been shadowing relations for a while.
Is South Africa choosing Russia and China on the United States?
The 2024 bill accuses South Africa of close ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC ‘and the Russian Federation.
In May 2023, the US ambassador to South Africa accused the country of supplying Russia to Russia for its war by a cargo plane against Ukraine, which at a naval base near Cape Town. I was secretly robbed.
South African government investigations Concluded In September 2023, there was no “no evidence” for the claim that South Africa had provided weapons to Russia. “The allegation” has the most harmful effects on our currency, our economy and our position in the world, “Ramfosa said. In fact, it has tarnished our image.
Earlier this year, in February 2023, South Africa, Russia and China conducted joint military exercises in the Indian Ocean. The United States replied that it was “worried”.
And Pretoria has been cautious in balanceing relations between Russia and China and its allies on the other, and on the other hand.
Despite the ICJ case, South Africa maintains strong trade relations with Israel: For some last year’s period, South Africa was the largest coal provider to Israel, even the Ramfosa government’s domestic hypocrisy. The charges faced.
Meanwhile, South Africa also persuaded Russian President Vladimir Putin not to attend the BRICS summit last year. South Africa is a member of the International Criminal Court, which has issued an arrest warrant against Putin about the war in Ukraine. The members of the ICC are expected to arrest the people with a warrant against the members.
What is the risk if the relationship decreases further?
As the Al -Jazeera explainer said since 2024, South Africa is the largest trade partner in Africa, with US $ 9.3 billion exports to South Africa in 2022. About 600 US businesses work in the country.
South Africa is also an important strategic partner for the United States. In a region, a democratic blurk where many post -independence movements have turned to dictatorship.
There is a lot of stake for South Africa too.
Although China is still South Africa’s largest trading partner, China, Germany and India are the fourth largest source of imports after its imports. (OEC)
South Africa benefits from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which was approved by Congress in 2000, which provides duty -free access to US markets for 1,800 products, including South Africa Is OEC data shows that South Africa’s exports to the United States in 2022 were about $ 11 billion.
South Africa’s threat now loses the risk of losing this status now, as Trump accepts trade relations, which he believes he is unfair to the United States.
