In a significant move that underscores deepening diplomatic rifts between Washington and Pretoria, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on May 20 that the United States will boycott the upcoming G20 events hosted by South Africa. The declaration, made during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, marks an intensification of the geopolitical standoff between the two countries, which have increasingly found themselves at odds over a range of global issues.

Rubio’s remarks come at a particularly delicate moment, as South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is in Washington to engage with President Donald Trump’s administration in an attempt to “reset and revitalize bilateral relations,” according to a statement from the South African presidency. The diplomatic outreach has now been complicated by Rubio’s pointed criticism of Pretoria’s foreign policy decisions, particularly its alliances and international advocacy.

Rubio minced no words in laying out the rationale behind the boycott. “When one country is consistently unaligned with the United States on issue after issue after issue after issue – now you have to make conclusions about it,” the secretary said. He emphasized that South Africa’s foreign policy trajectory no longer reflects US strategic priorities, particularly those of the Trump administration.

The G20 events, which South Africa is scheduled to host in Johannesburg later this year, have been dismissed by Rubio as failing to reflect the “priorities of this administration.” While he did not elaborate on the specifics of those priorities, his testimony made it........

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