Unpacking that Trump and Ramaphosa meeting

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The U.S. president made several false statements.

Get full access to Reuters.com for just £1/week. Subscribe now. Sustainable Switch Sustainable Switch   By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital Hello, U.S. President Donald Trump is the focus again of today's newsletter after he made several false statements when he met with South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, which we'll seek to unpack, and as the Trump administration rolled back several police reforms that were implemented after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. But first, please note that there will be no Climate Focus tomorrow, but Sustainable Switch will be back as usual on Tuesday. Now, back to the Trump and Ramaphosa meeting where the U.S. President made several false statements and misrepresented some facts about the alleged persecution of South Africa's white minority during a contentious Oval Office meeting. Ramaphosa tried to rebuff the assertions but was frequently interrupted by Trump, who repeated the claims. Trump had staff play a video consisting mostly of years-old clips of inflammatory speeches by some South African politicians that have been circulating on social media. Three South African courts have ruled against attempts to have those clips designated as hate speech, on the basis that it is a historical liberation chant, not a literal incitement to violence. Also on my radar today: EU Parliament backs exempting 90% of companies from carbon border levy US climate pullback threatens planned debt-for-nature deals India's Reliance to start solar module factory this year, exec says Vietnam retroactively cuts subsidies for some solar, wind farms, investors' letter says   U.S. President Trump shows false reports to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S.,. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque 'A genocide of white farmers in South Africa' The universally recognized definition of genocide is provided by the United Nations in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted on December 9, 1948. Click here for the full text on the United Nations' website. As for the false statement made by the President of the United States, this conspiracy theory has been propagated by some fringe groups of white South Africans since the end of apartheid in 1994. It has been circulating in global far-right chat rooms for at least a decade, with the vocal support of Trump's ally, South African-born Elon Musk. They accuse the South African government of being complicit in the murders of white farmers in remote rural parts of the country, either by encouraging them or at least turning a blind eye. The government strongly denies this. The high court in Western Cape province ruled that claims of white genocide were "clearly imagined and not real" in a case earlier this year, forbidding a donation to a white supremacist group on those grounds. South Africa has one of the world's highest murder rates, with an average of 72 a day, in a country of 60 million people. Most victims are Black. 'Expropriating land from white farmers' Now for the claim that the government is expropriating land from white farmers without compensation, including through violent land seizures, in order to distribute it to Black South Africans. The government has a policy of attempting to redress inequalities in land ownership that are a legacy of apartheid and colonialism. But no land has been expropriated, and the government has instead tried to encourage white farmers to sell their land willingly. Some three-quarters of privately-owned farmland is still in the hands of whites, who make up less than 8% of the population, while 4% is owned by Black South Africans who make up 80%. Click here for a Reuters story on the background of South Africa's Black economic empowerment program to learn more about the facts of the country's inequality. Violating the rights of Black people in the U.S. There are other pressing developments made by the Trump administration this week. The U.S. Justice Department is abandoning efforts to secure court-approved settlements with Minneapolis and Louisville, despite its prior finding that police in both cities routinely violated the civil rights of Black people, a senior official said. Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the department's Civil Rights Division, announced that the department will be closing out investigations and retracting prior findings of wrongdoing against the police departments in Phoenix, Arizona, Memphis, Tennessee, Trenton, New Jersey, Mount Vernon, New York, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and the Louisiana State Police. Dhillon said control of police belongs with their communities rather than unelected bureaucrats. The move comes four days before the May 25 five-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was murdered by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer who knelt on his neck as Floyd repeatedly pleaded that he couldn't breathe. Floyd's killing, as well as the killing of Breonna Taylor who was shot to death by Louisville Police executing a no-knock warrant, sparked worldwide protests about racially-motivated policing practices during the final year of Trump's first term in office. Talking Points   A drone view of flooding around Settlement Point Road, in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. AAP/Lindsay Moller/via REUTERS Aussie flood: Heavy rain in Australia's southeast triggered flash flooding, killed three people and cut off towns, leaving some residents stranded on the roofs of their homes, as authorities issued snap evacuation orders with rivers staying above danger levels. In its latest update, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said some areas received up to 300 mm (12 inches) of rain on Wednesday, three times the mean total for May. Gaza aid: After an 11-week blockade on supplies entering Gaza, the Israeli military said a total of 98 aid trucks entered this week. But even those minimal supplies have not made it to Gaza's soup kitchens, bakeries, markets and hospitals, according to aid officials and local bakeries that were standing by to receive supplies of flour. Click here to read a Reuters story on how a Gazan father of four, Mahmoud al-Haw, is among the many Palestinians struggling to survive and provide for themselves and their families. Syria's drought: Severe drought in Syria this year could lead to the failure of an estimated 75% of local wheat crops, threatening the food security of millions of people, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization. The government is responding by restricting water-intensive crops, the agriculture ministry told Reuters. It also said the lifting of sanctions, announced last week, could help by allowing fertilisers and irrigation tech to be imported. Farmers v climate-change: The European Union's agriculture sector loses an average of 28.3 billion euros ($31.9 billion) each year from extreme weather made worse by climate change, with just 20-30% of farmers' climate-linked losses being covered by public, private or mutual insurance systems, according to EU-backed analysis. Most of these losses – which are equivalent to 6% of annual EU crop and livestock production – are not insured.  U.S. fuel economy rules: The U.S. Transportation Department is expected to declare that fuel economy rules issued under then President Joe Biden exceeded the government's legal authority by including electric vehicles in setting the rules, automaker officials said. Removing EVs from the calculations for credits and the regulatory mandates could result in lower overall fuel economy requirements. ESG Lens   Thames Water, at the center of a public backlash against Britain's privatized water industry, has halted a bonus scheme for its executives after ministers objected to the payouts. The company, which is Britain's biggest water supplier with 16 million customers, has been struggling with billions of pounds of debt. The British government wants to reform the water sector, which has been criticized by environmental groups and consumers for damaging Britain's rivers while raising customer bills and for failing to invest. ESG Spotlight Members of Cheer Re-Man's, an all-male cheer-leading team of active businessmen, perform at "Cheer Up Japan" in Tokyo, Japan. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon Ready? OK! Meet Japan's most unlikely spirit squad in today's spotlight as a group of Japanese 'salarymen' show us that it's never too late to do what you love. Calling themselves "Cheer Re-Man's" – a mash-up of "cheerleading" and "salaryman" – the group, formed in 2023, is made up of alumni from the elite Waseda University's male cheerleading squad. Their day-jobs range from real estate sales to marketing, and they balance their professional lives with their passion for cheerleading.  The young men are all about spreading cheer through their eye-popping acrobatic performances, volunteering their weekends at shopping malls and other venues to bring a smile to the gathered crowds. Sustainable Switch was edited by Susan Fenton. Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletters or other Reuters news content. Advertise in this newsletter or on Reuters' website Sustainable Switch is sent three times a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you've engaged with its contents. 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