South Africa’s president said on Thursday the U.S. had signalled it might change its mind and participate in the G20 summit in Johannesburg after a boycott by the Trump administration, but the White House dismissed the report as “fake news.”

Cyril Ramaphosa was speaking at a joint news conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had said it would not attend the first G20 summit in Africa, alleging that the host country, previously ruled by its white minority apartheid system until 1994, discriminates against white people.

On Thursday, a White House official said an envoy would attend a ceremony for the official handover of the G20 presidency from South Africa to the U.S.. Still, there was no question of Washington participating.

Trump has rejected South Africa’s agenda for the November 22-23 summit of promoting solidarity and helping developing nations adapt to worse weather disasters, transition to clean energy and cut their excessive debt costs.