Trump confronts South Africa's Ramaphosa with false claims of genocide

US President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday with explosive false claims of genocide and land seizures during a tense White House meeting.

It was reminiscent of his February ambush of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ramaphosa had hoped to use Wednesday's meeting to reset his country's relationship with the US, after Trump cancelled much-needed aid to South Africa, expelled the country's ambassador and criticised its genocide court case against Israel.

The South African president arrived prepared for an aggressive reception with a plan to discuss trade. The US is South Africa's second-biggest trading partner, and the country is facing a 30 per cent tariff under Trump's currently suspended raft of import taxes.

But in a carefully choreographed Oval Office onslaught, Trump pounced, moving quickly to a list of concerns, which he punctuated by playing a video and leafing through a stack of printed news articles that he said proved his allegations.

"We have many people that feel they're being persecuted, and they're coming to the United States," Trump said. "So we take from many... locations, if we feel there's persecution or genocide going on," he added, referring specifically to some farmers.

Ramaphosa, sitting in a chair next to Trump and remaining poised, pushed back against his claims. "If there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you, these three gentlemen would not be here," Ramaphosa said, referring to golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen and billionaire Johann Rupert, who were present in the room.

However, that did not satisfy Trump. "We have thousands of stories talking about it, and we have documentaries, we have news stories," Trump said. "It has to be responded to."

The extraordinary exchange, three months after Trump and Vice President JD Vance upbraided Zelenskyy inside the same Oval Office, could prompt foreign leaders to think twice about accepting Trump's invitations and risk public embarrassment.

Unlike Zelenskyy, who sparred with Trump and ended up leaving early, the South African leader kept his calm, praising Trump's decor and saying he looked forward to handing over the presidency of the Group of 20 next year.

Following the meeting, Ramaphosa sought to focus on trade, telling reporters the two countries had agreed to discuss critical minerals in South Africa. His trade minister said the government had submitted a trade and investment proposal that included buying liquefied natural gas from the US.