South African President Cyril Ramaphosa traveled to Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, for the G7 Summit, in the hopes of meeting President Donald Trump, but failed to do so before Trump returned to the United States.
As Breitbart News reported, Trump left the G7 Summit after the first day, returning to the White House to deal with the ongoing war in the Middle East between Israel and Iran.
Ramaphosa had apparently boasted that he would meet Trump at the summit for the second time in as many months — but Trump left before he could.
The South African president’s office tried to put a brave face on the snub, saying that there had never been a “formal” meeting planned, according to News24.com:
This is despite Ramaphosa last week telling journalists that he would meet Trump for the second time this year. AFP reported that Trump left the G7 Summit early on Monday as Israel and Iran continued to trade missiles.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told News24 on Tuesday there was never a plan to have a formal bilateral meeting with Trump.
He said: “The president said they’ll meet in the context of both of them attending the G7. It’s a small setting, they would have probably had a chance to greet and exchange pleasantries. However, so soon after the meeting at the White House, there was no immediate or pressing need for a follow up meeting.”
South Africa has not made progress toward improved ties with the U.S.since the explosive Oval Office meeting in May, nor has it made any policy reforms sought by the American side.
The U.S. has offered asylum to Afrikaner farmers, whom the Trump administration says are subject to racial discrimination and the threat of expropriation on a racial basis.
South Africa has also taken anti-American policy stances, such as siding with Iran in the ongoing conflict with Israel.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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