SA govt doesn't foresee problems in its G20 working relationship with US

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s government says it doesn’t foresee any problems in its G20 working relationship with the United States (US).

This is despite increasingly frosty relations between the two countries.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently snubbed an invite to attend the first foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg on Thursday.

READ: Senior US diplomat to attend G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Joburg after Rubio snub

South Africa and the US form part of a troika alongside Brazil that will be at the core of the G20.

America is set to take over the Presidency of the G20 from South Africa in 2026.

Researchers such as the Institute of Security Studies’ Priyal Singh have suggested that Pretoria must adopt a change of tact when dealing with Washington.

"There needs to be this wholesale kind of engagement between government officials across the full spectrum of departments and arms of state within South Africa, with their counterparts in the United States, so that we can get a better read of the situation and there can be multiple engagements that don’t necessarily flow through an official diplomatic track."

Singh on the threats of South Africa losing its AGOA benefits said the government must find alternative measures as a buffer to the fallout of the potential exclusion of the country by the US.

He said AGOA was the primary leverage that Washington had over Pretoria, and a decision to take it away would have an adverse impact on bilateral relations between the two.

"If the US does in fact play its hand, adopt that punitive measure, it will open up many challenges for us but I think there will also be a number of opportunities for us to explore, perhaps a bilateral trade agreement and diversifying our trade and investment with other global actors, particularly in the global south."

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