Tension in the South Africa-U.S. relationship. What’s causing it? And, what does it mean for future ties between the two countries? 

The relationship between South Africa and the United States is going through a rough period. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a major factor in driving tensions between the sides. Pretoria has taken a neutral position on the crisis but has close ties with Moscow. That has caused push back from Washington. Meanwhile, both countries continue to have a strong economic relationship. 

Joining the discussion: 

• Ebrahim Rasool is a former South African Ambassador to the United States. 
• Robin Renee Sanders is a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria and the Republic of the Congo who served during the Obama and Bush administrations. 
• Sanusha Naidu is a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Global Dialogue.
• Abdullahi Boru Halakhe is an Africa Security and Policy Analyst.

South Africa has faced increasing pushback in Washington, including a bipartisan group of lawmakers urging the Biden administration last month to scrap plans for a major U.S. trade summit in the country. https://t.co/a9yFMHWLqX

— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) July 20, 2023

South Africa is working to persuade Russia to return to talks on a Ukraine grain-export deal that it pulled out of last month https://t.co/BvNpAUhVGh

— Bloomberg (@business) August 1, 2023