G20 ‘dormant’ as Donald Trump plans boycott of South Africa summit

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The G20 has gone “dormant” ahead of next week’s summit in South Africa as members distance themselves and drastically scale back expectations for the multilateral forum following Donald Trump’s opposition.

The US president said his administration would boycott the leaders’ gathering in Johannesburg, the first in Africa, while his populist Argentine ally Javier Milei said he would also skip the event. Other leaders are planning to use the event for bilateral contacts.

“G20 has become a bit dormant,” said one senior official involved in the preparations for the November 22-23 summit. “It’s a time for it to be in hibernation.”

China’s President Xi Jinping was also expected to skip the summit after state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday that premier Li Qiang would attend.

Trump’s opposition to multilateralism, his isolationist foreign policy and his penchant for trade conflict with friends and foes alike have hobbled bodies such as the G20, designed to bring the biggest economies together to solve global issues.

Delegations attending the Johannesburg event assume there will be no joint statement. They planned instead to use it for bilateral talks and to co-ordinate positions on issues including trade and climate change, the official added.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday described the US’s boycott of the summit as Washington’s loss. The US is scheduled to take over the rotating presidency of the body from the end of November.

“In many ways, the US is giving up the very important role that they should be playing as the biggest economy in the world,” he said, adding that “decisions will be taken that will move the various issues ahead”.

“The US needs to think again whether boycott politics actually works, because in my experience it doesn’t,” he said.

Trump on Friday said “no US officials” would attend the summit because white Afrikaners were being “slaughtered” in South Africa, a false claim that he has repeatedly raised since retaking office.

Trump had previously said vice-president JD Vance would attend the two-day event, and US officials had last month told their partners that Washington would block any attempt to release a joint statement.

“It is not optimal because the G20 is a consensus-based body, and consists of systemically important countries which provide direction on the global financial system, where the US is a vital player,” said Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, chief executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs.

“But not everything will grind to a halt — there have been outcomes from several of the working groups already, where the US was involved,” she said.

South African officials have, for example, cited declarations on air quality and environmental crimes such as wildlife trafficking that were signed last month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not attended a G20 since the 2021 edition, in response to his country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and resulting western sanctions imposed on Moscow.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to travel to South Africa, according to officials in New Delhi, as are leaders from the EU.

Past, current and incoming G20 host nations typically work closely together during the rotating year-long presidency.

But the South Africa-US diplomatic relationship has been thorny since the start of Trump’s second term, with the president fixating on discredited claims of a “genocide” against Afrikaners.

Even at lower-level meetings, US officials have fought back against South Africa’s main agenda items, particularly on climate financing and reducing trade barriers.

Dion George, South Africa’s former environmental minister who chaired the G20 climate group, said there had nonetheless been “some real successes” during South Africa’s presidency, including the recent declarations on air quality and wildlife trafficking.

But the US’s absence next week would make any decisions reached in South Africa harder to implement, he admitted.

“It’s been a very difficult year to get anything done at the G20,” George added. “The fact that the US showed up at all [at lower-level meetings] took a lot of work.” 

Additional reporting by Andres Schipani in New Delhi