German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has put the question of South Africa’s exclusion from the Group of 20 directly to US President Donald Trump, urging the American leader to reverse a decision that keeps a G20 member state away from the table at December’s summit in Miami. Speaking at the Berlin Global Dialogue conference on Wednesday, Merz framed the matter in terms of representation and economic standing: “Africa belongs at the table,” he said. “The African Union is a member of the G-20, and so is South Africa. That’s why I urge that South Africa be represented at the G20 summit.”
The dispute carries real weight for markets and investors watching how trade and diplomatic relationships between Washington and Pretoria shape the business environment in Africa’s most industrialised economy. Trump announced last year that South Africa, a G20 member state, would not be invited to this year’s summit. He justified the decision with a repeated claim that South Africa was committing genocide against white people in the country.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office forcefully rejected the accusation, describing it as “misinformation and distortions about our country.” The public clash between the two governments has clouded an economic relationship that business leaders on both sides continue to cultivate, even as political friction deepens.
The contrast in Trump’s guest list has drawn attention from other member states. While South Africa is excluded, the US president has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20, a move widely criticised by other members. Putin’s attendance remains uncertain. Bloomberg News reported last month that the Russian leader plans to travel to China for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit next month but is likely to skip the G20 gathering.
For companies and investors, the uncertainty around summit participation matters less for its ceremony than for what it signals about market access and policy direction. South Africa’s absence from a forum that convenes the world’s largest economies narrows the channels through which African economic priorities reach decision-makers, a point Merz’s intervention underscores. The African Union’s seat at the G20, alongside South Africa’s own membership, was won on the argument that the continent’s growth, debt burdens and trade interests deserve a direct voice in global economic coordination.
Meanwhile, the strain in bilateral ties has also shown up in migration policy, another area with economic implications. The Trump administration has significantly reduced the number of refugees coming into the US, but has prioritised white South Africans, a sharp break from the nation’s past policy of accepting tens of thousands of people fleeing conflict and persecution. That shift has added to the sense of a relationship being redefined from Washington’s side, with consequences that businesses with exposure to South Africa are watching closely.
South African officials have sought to limit the damage. Pretoria has confirmed it will not attend a G20 meeting in Washington, and it has labelled its absence from the 2026 G20 a “temporary blip” despite US actions. The framing suggests the government sees the rupture as recoverable, an attempt to reassure trading partners and investors that the country’s place in global economic governance remains intact over the longer term.
Merz’s appeal places Germany, one of South Africa’s significant European trading and investment partners, openly on the side of Pretoria’s inclusion. His argument rests on institutional membership rather than sentiment: both the African Union and South Africa hold seats in the G20, and excluding a member from a summit hosted by the rotating presidency cuts against the forum’s own structure. Whether Trump heeds the urging of a key European ally remains to be seen, but the episode has made clear that South Africa’s exclusion is now a point of contention among G20 members themselves, with economic and diplomatic costs accumulating on both sides of the Atlantic.
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