Tensions are escalating between the United States and South Africa as the Trump administration moves to expel Pretoria's ambassador from Washington. «South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country», declared Marco Rubio on platform X this Friday, March 14. South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.https://t.co/mnUnwGOQdx — Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 14, 2025 «Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician politician who hates America and President Trump. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.» Marco Rubio This decision comes amid already strained relations between the two nations. Six weeks earlier, Donald Trump sanctioned Cyril Ramaphosa's government by officially suspending all U.S. aid to South Africa, citing «the country's new land law [which] violates the human rights of the white minority», according to international media reports. Trump claimed that «the expropriation allows for the confiscation without compensation of farmland owned by the white minority», describing them as «victims of unjust racial discrimination». Pretoria strongly condemned these allegations, with President Ramaphosa responding: «The South African government has not confiscated any land». Tensions between the two countries have also been exacerbated by South Africa's legal action against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing it of genocide in Gaza. In November 2024, the ICC issued an international arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of Trump. In response, on February 6, the U.S. president imposed sanctions on the ICC.
