Key facts
- Ramaphosa said Democrats taking control of the Senate and House showed the American people had spoken.
- Ramaphosa called South Africa's suspension from AGOA from January 'a negative for us'.
- Ramaphosa said the focus should be on negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the US.
- Ramaphosa said South Africa's trade relations with the US continue and diversification has become the priority.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on November 4, 2026 that the results of US midterm elections would usher in a new era in world relations, after voters delivered what he described as a rebuke to President Donald Trump. He spoke to reporters after casting his vote in South Africa's municipal elections that day.
"We have seen that the Democrats have taken control of the Senate and of the House, and the people of America have spoken. ... I do think that this is going to introduce a new era in world relations," Ramaphosa said.
Relations between South Africa and the US are at a low point. In the week before his remarks, Trump's administration moved to end South Africa's duty-free access to the US market, after cutting financial aid and expelling its previous ambassador to Washington in 2025. Trump has targeted the country largely over what he says is its persecution of white people, a narrative South Africa says is false and spread by fringe groups.
Ramaphosa said Monday's announcement that South Africa would be suspended from Washington's AGOA trade initiative from January "is indeed a negative for us" and that the focus should be on negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the US. "Whilst we are sad that we've been removed from AGOA, our trade relations with the United States continue," he added. He said South Africa had been working to secure new export markets and that "diversification has now become the order of the day."