White House shuts down reports US backtracked on Trump’s G20 boycott
The White House reiterated Thursday that the U.S. will not send a delegation to the upcoming G20 conference in South Africa, calling reports claiming the opposite "fake news." President Donald...
By Fox News · Fox News
The White House reiterated Thursday that the U.S. will not send a delegation to the upcoming G20 conference in South Africa, calling reports claiming the opposite "fake news." President Donald Trump said earlier in November that U.S. officials would skip the annual conference, which brings together 19 nations to discuss global economic stability and development, over South Africa's reported human rights abuses. "Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated," Trump wrote on Truth Social Nov. 7. "No U.S. Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue." Media reports and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, however, have claimed that the U.S. will send a delegation to the summit, which is set to kick off Saturday. AFRICAN UNION CHIEF DENIES GENOCIDE CLAIMS AGAINST CHRISTIANS AS CRUZ WARNS NIGERIAN OFFICIALS When approached for comment on claims that the U.S. backtracked and will send a delegation, a White House official said such claims were "fake news." "This is fake news. The chargé d'affaires in Pretoria will attend the handover ceremony as a formality, but the United States is not joining G20 discussions ," a White House official told Fox News Digital Thursday. Ramaphosa, speaking Thursday at a G20 event in Johannesburg, told delegates and media that, "We have received notice from the United States, a notice where we are still in discussions with them, about a change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other in the (G20) Summit." Ramaphosa added, "So the discussions are still ongoing, it's come at a late hour before the summit begins, so it needs to engage in those type of discussions to see how practical it is, and what it finally really means." "In a way, I see this as a positive sign, very positive, because, as I’ve often said, boycott politics never works." Ramaphosa went…