The presidents of South Africa and Burundi were the only African leaders to congratulate Donald Trump on his return to the US presidency and hope to strengthen bilateral relations over the next five years.
According to the Spanish news agency Efe, these two heads of state from sub-Saharan Africa were the only ones from the region to congratulate Trump on his inauguration on Monday in Washington, which marks his return to the White House after having governed the country between 2017 and 2021.
The President of Burundi, Evariste Ndayishimiye, said that, "as [Trump] takes the reins of power, we hope to strengthen the lasting ties between Burundi and the US".
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "I look forward to continuing the close and mutually beneficial partnership between our two nations in all areas of our cooperation," said Ramaphosa.
South Africa, which took over the rotating presidency of the G20 (a group of developed and emerging countries) on 1 December, had already expressed its desire, shortly after Trump's re-election, for the US President to participate in the summit of leaders and heads of state that will take place in November in South Africa.
"During our telephone conversation, we both agreed on the need to strengthen our commercial and political ties. We also look forward to welcoming President-elect Trump to the G20 Heads of State Summit", the South African leader stated at the time in his X profile.
However, South Africa is part of the BRICS group, a group of mostly emerging economies, also comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China, on which Trump has threatened to impose heavy tariffs if they create a currency that rivals the US dollar, something that is not among the plans of the forum, which seeks to promote trade between members in their local currencies.
On Monday, the US president reiterated his intention to impose a 100% tariff on the BRICS countries when, when asked in the Oval Office about Spain's contribution to NATO, he confused the country with a member of the group.
"Spain is a BRICS country. Do you know what a BRICS country is? You'll find out. If the BRICS countries want to do that, fine, but we're going to impose at least a 100% tariff on the business they do with the United States," Trump said.
