After months of escalating tensions between the U.S. and South Africa, President Donald Trump hosted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House on Wednesday. Prior to the meeting, Ramaphosa expressed hopes of reaching a trade deal with the U.S., but the Oval Office sit-down proved to be a tense affair.
Trump showed a video and printed news articles of what he said was evidence of the persecution of white South Africans. Ramaphosa vehemently denied allegations of a "white genocide," as he has done before. A reporter in the Oval Office asked what it would take for Trump "to be convinced that there's no white genocide” in South Africa.
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Ramaphosa jumped in and offered to answer, saying: "It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans." To which Trump said: "We have thousands of stories talking about it [a genocide], documentaries, and news stories... it has to be responded to." He then instructed for the lights to be turned down, so he could play a video that included footage of South African opposition leaders calling for the death of white farmers. Ramaphosa asked where the footage had been filmed, and said he'd never seen it. "We need to find out," he said.
“There is criminality in our country. People who do get killed, unfortunately through criminal activity, are not only white people,” Ramaphosa told Trump.
Read More: Trump Pushes False ‘White Genocide’ Claims in Tense Meeting With South African Leaders
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