The South African president has arrived in Washington ahead of talks with Donald Trump

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump will discuss trade and bilateral relations during the African leader's working visit to Washington, SA News has reported.

Ramaphosa arrived in the US on Monday ahead of a scheduled meeting with Trump at the White House on Wednesday. The visit comes at a time of strained relations between the two countries, after Washington accused Pretoria of infringing on the rights of the white Afrikaner minority through a new land expropriation policy.  

Speaking to the press on Saturday, Ramaphosa dismissed any concerns surrounding his trip and emphasized the importance of engagement with the US. 

"We're going there to discuss trade and our bilateral relations and that's what we're going to discuss. It's country to country and we trade with each other, so we have to relate to each other," he said.

According to local outlet IOL, Ramaphosa is accompanied by several high-level officials, including Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen, Minister of Trade and Industry Parks Tau, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola, and South Africa's newly appointed special envoy to the US, Mcebisi Jonas.

The South African delegation is expected to pitch investment opportunities to American businesses, particularly in the energy sector, with a focus on natural gas, as well as in mining, agriculture, and transport infrastructure.

Tensions between Washington and Pretoria have escalated since Trump returned to office in January. The US administration has accused South Africa of undermining the rights of the white Afrikaner minority through its new land policies. Pretoria has defended the measures, stating they are designed to address long-standing racial inequities in land ownership. Trump has pledged to fast-track naturalization for Afrikaners, claiming they are victims of a "genocide."

Ramaphosa has repeatedly dismissed the claims, saying during his latest public appearance that "there's no genocide in South Africa. That is a fact that's borne out of a lot of evidence."

In March, tensions deepened further when Trump ordered a halt to all US federal funding to South Africa and expelled the country's ambassador from Washington, accusing him of being "anti-American." The move came after Pretoria filed a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

READ MORE: South African president to meet Trump

South African officials have since sought to open dialogue with their US counterparts, expressing a desire to dispel what they describe as misinformation surrounding their domestic land reform efforts.

Ramaphosa wrote on X last month that he and Trump had agreed in a phone conversation to directly address bilateral issues during the visit.