A South African leader wants to reach an agreement with Trump to settle a disagreement

On Thursday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated his desire to “do a deal” with U.S. President Donald Trump in order to settle a disagreement on his nation’s land policy and the World Court case against Israel for genocide.

Citing displeasure of South Africa’s land reform policies and the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) judgment against Washington’s close friend, Trump issued an executive order this month cutting off U.S. financial aid to the country.

While he wanted the “dust to settle” following the executive order, Ramaphosa stated at a conference hosted in Johannesburg by the American bank Goldman Sachs that his long-term objective was to travel to Washington to restore relations.

We don’t wish to go out and defend ourselves. Ramaphosa stated, “We want to go and do a meaningful deal with the United States on a whole range of issues.” “I’m very positively inclined to promoting a good relationship with President Trump.”

Ramaphosa simply mentioned that the agreement might touch on political, diplomatic, and trade issues without describing the specifics.

With Trump in the White House, some worry that South Africa’s special trade status under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) may be threatened, even though the country does not rely heavily on American funding.

The nation makes an effort to portray itself as neutral in geopolitical disputes and avoids connecting its interests too closely to those of competitor nations like China, Russia, and the United States.

As an illustration of South Africa’s stance against Washington and its allies, Trump has pointed to the ICJ case.