South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has once again defended his government’s decision to visit the White House last week, where they met with US President Donald Trump and his top administration.
Ramaphosa says South Africa has always regarded the United States as a strong investment and trading partner.
He defended the trip in an open letter to South Africans dated 27 May 2025, which was posted to the state website for circulation.
Ramaphosa stressed that the two countries and economies are bound together in many ways.
“We went to Washington to establish a basis for greater economic cooperation and to address some of the challenges that have recently arisen in relations between our two countries. Our visit came at a time when US-SA relations have come under increasing strain, largely as a result of misinformation peddled by fringe groups in our two countries, including a false narrative about a so-called genocide and an orchestrated campaign of violence against white farmers.
“In this context, it was critical for us to engage directly with the US administration to correct misinformation and provide a true account of the progress we have made as a democracy and the many and complex challenges we still face. While this was a necessary conversation, the overarching aim of our visit was to deepen our strategic economic partnership with the US as our second-largest trading partner,” he wrote in the open letter.
He pointed out that the US is a key export market for South African goods, products and services, including motor vehicles, agricultural products and, increasingly, critical minerals, and equally, South Africans buy many goods and services from the US.
Furthermore, Ramaphosa said that there is potential to increase and diversify trade between our two countries in areas such as gas, mining and critical minerals, agriculture and nuclear products.
“The US is a major source of investment in South Africa. There are over 600 US companies, many with a long-established presence here, who continue to expand their investments. By way of example, earlier this year tech giant Microsoft announced plans to invest an additional R5.4 billion in expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure in South Africa over the next two years. Last week, there was a strong showing of US companies at an important energy conference in Cape Town,” he added.
