February 3, 2025 | The Washington Times

‘Not worried’: South Africa sets itself on a collision course with Trump

South Africa's troubling shift away from the West
February 3, 2025 | The Washington Times

‘Not worried’: South Africa sets itself on a collision course with Trump

South Africa's troubling shift away from the West

Excerpt

On the sidelines of last month’s World Economic Forum, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa casually declared he is “not worried” about his country’s relationship with the United States. Yet on Sunday, less than two weeks later, President Trump declared that he “will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa.”

In no uncertain terms, Pretoria’s ties with Washington are on dangerously thin ice and could quickly deteriorate if Mr. Ramaphosa’s party, the African National Congress, remains wedded to advancing controversial land expropriation reforms and to warming relations with Russia, China, Iran and Hamas.

Max Meizlish is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. You can follow him on X @maxmeizlish.

Issues:

Issues:

U.S. Defense Policy and Strategy

Topics:

Topics:

Iran Hamas Russia China Donald Trump South Africa World Economic Forum Pretoria African National Congress Cyril Ramaphosa