WIREDGOV

EXPERT COMMENT

South Africa’s president avoided calamity by calling on his diverse delegation. That lesson should be taken forward into trade negotiations.

South Africans are celebrating a dramatic win over the United States. A small group of their compatriots, part of a team that reflects the nation’s diversity, has triumphed at the highest level on the world stage. This is of course their World Athletic Relay runners, who topped the medal table with two golds for the men – and a bronze for the women’s quartets.

South Africa’s sporting success is something that unites a nation too often paralysed by mistrust and the social weight of historic injustice. It was this magic touch that the presidential delegation to Washington this week sought to replicate. 

Unity would be vital for what promised to be a difficult encounter. Washington-Pretoria relations are at a significant low: the US has condemned South Africa’s bringing of a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and is suspicious of Pretoria’s BRICS membership. President Trump’s policy of offering asylum to white South Africans, who he says are persecuted, is viewed in South Africa by many as provocative outside interference in highly sensitive domestic politics.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.