Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump: Key topics for their upcoming meeting at the White House
Cyril Ramaphosa meets Donald Trump for crucial talks at the White House
Image: Armand Hough/Independent Media
President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to sit down with US President Donald Trump later on Wednesday, where the two heads of State will deliberate on a range of topics.
Ramaphosa, accompanied by Minister of Agriculture and DA leader John Steenhuisen, Minister of Trade and Industry Parks Tau, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola, and new special envoy to the US, Mcebisi Jonas, arrived in Washington DC earlier this week.
While it has been reported that the meeting will be held in-camera, speaking to Newzroom Afrika, Centre for African Diplomacy and Leadership at the University of Johannesburg, Professor Oscar Van Heerden said, knowing Trump, there are bound to be cameras. What will Ramaphosa and Trump talk about?
Chief Executive Officer of Everest Wealth, Thys van Zyl, says this visit is an attempt to restore diplomatic ties, and discussions will likely focus on trade relations, financial assistance, and investment opportunities. Afrikaners in the US
Just over one week ago, 49 Afrikaners boarded a US-chartered plane from the OR Tambo International Airport and travelled to America under Trump's refugee program. Trump initiated the program on the premise that a genocide was taking place in SA and Afrikaners, mainly farmers, were being targeted. Despite numerous articles debunking this, the program went ahead and the US welcomed the 49 Afrikaners with open arms.
Video Player is loading.
Play Video
Play
Unmute
Current Time
0:00
/
Duration
-:-
Loaded :
0%
Stream Type LIVE
Seek to live, currently behind live
LIVE
Remaining Time
-
0:00
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan
Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque
Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps
Reset
restore all settings to the default values Done
Close Modal Dialog
End of dialog window.
Advertisement
Next
Stay
Close ✕
Ukraine, Russian conflict
Ramaphosa and Trump are also expected to discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. As it stands, Trump has spoken to both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin in a bid to reach a ceasefire. Since Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, SA has maintained its neutrality, calling for talks between both sides. Last month Zelensky was in SA for talks with Ramaphosa however, he had to cut his visit short and return to his country following a fresh wave of violence. Elon Musk's Starlink and Teslas in SA
Could Ramaphosa and Trump discuss Elon Musk's business interests expanding to SA?
Musk is a close ally of Trump's and has been vocal on his disdain for SA's politics.
IOL reported that the government is reportedly looking at ways around its Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) laws in order to launch Starlink in SA. This comes after Musk, born in SA, claimed that he cannot launch in his home country because he is not black.
It has been further reported that a possible proposal put forward by Ramaphosa, could involve Tesla receiving preferential tariffs on its imports into South Africa in return for establishing electric vehicle charging stations in the country.
So, it is widely anticipated that Trump could do to Ramaphosa what he did to Zelensky during a recent visit where the men got into a shouting match. Stay tuned to IOL for regular updates and reaction ahead of the sit-down talk and what happens next.
seanne.rall@iol.co.za
IOL
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
TimesLIVE
21 minutes ago
- TimesLIVE
North Korea condemns US strikes on Iran as violation of sovereign rights
North Korea said on Monday it strongly condemns the US strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities as a grave violation of a sovereign state's security interests and territorial rights, the country's state media reported. The US and Israel are the culprits of the tensions in the Middle East born out of Jerusalem's 'ceaseless war moves and territorial expansion accepted and encouraged by the West', North Korea's foreign ministry said. "(North Korea) strongly denounces the attack on Iran by the US which violently trampled down the territorial integrity and security interests of a sovereign state,' an unnamed spokesperson said in a statement carried by KCNA news agency. 'The just international community should raise the voice of unanimous censure and rejection against the US and Israel's confrontational acts,' the statement said. Iran and nuclear-armed North Korea have maintained friendly ties and have been suspected for decades of military cooperation, including in developing ballistic missiles. A now-defunct panel of experts monitoring UN sanctions said in 2021 the two countries had resumed cooperation on long-range missile development projects, including the transfer of critical parts. 'Pyongyang could provide important assistance in helping Iran reconstitute destroyed missile production facilities, including at new sites to avoid scrutiny, perhaps,' said Ankit Panda of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Whether either country would be interested in substantively cooperating on efforts to rebuild or accelerate Iran's nuclear weapons programme is less certain, given the political and military sensitivities over such technology, he said. 'There are matters pertaining to weapons design that the North Koreans would not want to proliferate because once in Iran, they could be discovered by the US and potentially assist the US in undermining its deterrent,' Panda said. However, Pyongyang has substantive experience in weaponisation and could be able to assist in the non-fissile components of a nuclear bomb, such as the conventional explosives, he added. North Korea has taken unprecedented steps in the past year to deepen military assistance to Russia, another partner of Iran, by sending thousands of troops and ballistic missiles and other weapons for use in fighting Ukraine, according to US, Ukrainian and other intelligence sources.
TimesLIVE
an hour ago
- TimesLIVE
Abrego Garcia ordered released pending trial on migrant smuggling charges
A US judge on Sunday ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant returned to the US earlier this month after being wrongfully deported to his native El Salvador, released on bail pending his criminal trial on migrant smuggling charges. However, the decision by US magistrate judge Barbara Holmes in Nashville, Tennessee does not necessarily mean Abrego, as he prefers to be known, will go home to his family. The judge had acknowledged at a June 13 court hearing that Abrego was likely to be placed in immigration detention even if he is released. Abrego, a Maryland resident whose wife and young child are US citizens, was deported on March 15 to El Salvador, despite a 2019 immigration court ruling that he not be sent there because he could be persecuted by gangs. Officials called his removal an 'administrative error', but for months said they could not bring him back. Critics of US President Donald Trump pointed to Abrego's case as evidence his administration was prioritising increased deportations over due process, the bedrock principle people in the US, whether citizens or not, can contest governmental actions against them in the courts. Trump, who has pledged to crack down on illegal immigration, said Abrego belongs to the MS-13 gang, an accusation his lawyers deny. The justice department brought Abrego back to the US on June 6 after earlier securing an indictment charging him with working with at least five co-conspirators as part of a smuggling ring to bring immigrants to the US illegally. Prosecutors said Abrego, 29, picked up migrants from the US-Mexico border more than 100 times, and transported firearms and drugs. Abrego has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers said the Trump administration brought the charges to cover up their violations of Abrego's rights, and said the alleged co-conspirators cooperating with prosecutors should not be trusted because they are seeking relief from deportation and criminal charges of their own. In her ruling on Sunday, Holmes said the government failed to show Abrego posed a danger to the community or was unlikely to appear in court, scheduling a hearing for Wednesday. In a separate civil case, Greenbelt, Maryland-based US district judge Paula Xinis is investigating whether the Trump administration violated her order to facilitate Abrego's return from El Salvador. The US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the order.
TimesLIVE
2 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Iran weighs retaliation against US for strikes on nuclear sites
Iran and Israel traded air and missile strikes as the world braced on Monday for Tehran's response to the US attack on its nuclear sites and US President Donald Trump raised the idea of regime change in the Islamic republic. Iran vowed to defend itself on Sunday, a day after the US joined Israel in the biggest Western military action against the country since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, despite calls for restraint and a return to diplomacy from around the world. Commercial satellite imagery indicated the US attack on Saturday on Iran's subterranean Fordow nuclear plant severely damaged or destroyed the deeply buried site and the uranium-enriching centrifuges it housed, but the status of the site remained unconfirmed, experts said. In his latest social media comments on the US strikes, Trump said 'monumental damage was done to all nuclear sites in Iran'. 'The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye,' he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Trump earlier called on Iran to forgo any retaliation and said the government 'must make peace' or 'future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier'. The US launched 75 precision-guided munitions including bunker-buster bombs and more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles against three Iranian nuclear sites, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine, told reporters. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said no increases in off-site radiation levels had been reported after the US strikes. Rafael Grossi, the agency's director-general, told CNN it was not yet possible to assess the damage done underground. A senior Iranian source told Reuters most of the highly enriched uranium at Fordow had been moved before the attack. Reuters could not immediately corroborate the claim. Tehran, which denies its nuclear programme is for anything other than peaceful purposes, sent a volley of missiles at Israel in the aftermath of the US attack, wounding scores of people and destroying buildings in Tel Aviv. However, it had not acted on its main threats of retaliation, to target US bases or choke off oil shipments that pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Attempting to strangle Gulf oil supply by closing the strait could send global oil prices skyrocketing, derail the world economy and invite conflict with the US navy's massive fifth fleet based in the Gulf. Oil prices jumped on Monday to their highest since January. Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose $1.88 (R33.84) or 2.44% at $78.89 (R1.420) a barrel as of 11.22 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 advanced $1.87 (R33.66) or 2.53% at $75.71 (R1,363). Iran's parliament has approved a move to close the strait, which Iran shares with Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Iran's press TV said closing the strait would require approval from the supreme national security council, a body led by an appointee of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Caine said the US military had increased protection of troops in the region, including in Iraq and Syria. The US state department issued a security alert for all US citizens abroad, calling on them to 'exercise increased caution'. The US has a sizeable force in the Middle East, with nearly 40,000 troops and warships that can shoot down enemy missiles. The Israeli military reported a missile launch from Iran in the early hours on Monday, saying it was intercepted by Israeli defences. Air raid sirens blared in Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel. Iran has repeatedly targeted Greater Tel Aviv, a metropolitan area of around 4-million people and the business and economic hub of Israel where there are also critical military assets. Iranian news agencies reported air defences were activated in central Tehran districts to counter 'enemy targets', and that Israeli air strikes hit Parchin, the location of a military complex southeast of the capital. In a post to the Truth Social platform on Sunday, Trump raised the idea of regime change in Iran. 'It's not politically correct to use the term 'regime change', but if the Iranian Regime is unable to make Iran great again, why wouldn't there be a regime change? MIGA,' he wrote. Trump's post came after officials in his administration, including vice president JD Vance and defence secretary Pete Hegseth, stressed they were not working to overthrow Iran's government. Israeli officials, who began the hostilities with a surprise attack on Iran on June 13, have increasingly spoken of their ambition to topple the hardline Shi'ite Muslim clerical establishment. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araqchi is expected to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. The Kremlin has a strategic partnership with Iran, but also close links with Israel. Speaking in Istanbul on Sunday, Araqchi said his country would consider all possible responses and there would be no return to diplomacy until it had retaliated. Russia's foreign ministry condemned the US attacks, which it said had undermined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. 'The risk of the conflict spreading in the Middle East, which is gripped by many crises, has increased significantly,' it said. The UN Security Council met on Sunday to discuss the US strikes as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres told the council the US bombings in Iran marked a perilous turn in the region and urged a return to negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.
