[9][10] In December 2016, USA drafted a resolution, that failed to pass, which would have implemented an arms embargo and more sanctions, due to signs in South Sudan of possible genocide.

[11] While South Sudan has not been its own sovereign country for a long time,[12] President Salva Kiir has established rapport with the United States.

While relations between the two countries have changed from support to subtle threats recently, the United States has been open about both the right to self-determination and insistence that humanitarian aid to South Sudanese affected by the civil war reach its victims.

In August 2016, when Donald Trump was campaigning for the United States presidency, the South Sudanese government led an attack on Western aid workers, which included American humanitarians.

At the time, South Sudan had dealt with almost three years of civil war and viewed Trump's victory as a new and possible way to end the conflict.

Trump imposed sanctions on three South Sudanese in September 2017 and expressed that the way to regain trust of the government is through providing care for affected citizens.

[16] In December 2018, Donald Trump officiated a highly controversial relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel, moving it from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to the South Sudan Presidential Press Unit, the government “will not make any specific statement or take any position on the decision of President Trump.” The government also views the newspaper that published the report as “fabricated and absolutely false.” South Sudan also expressed that their main priority is to find an inclusive solution to their country's conflict, not the affairs of other countries.

The US proposed a “Prosper Africa” policy where Trump will try to motivate leaders to choose “high-quality, transparent, inclusive, and sustainable foreign investment projects, including those from the United States”.