JOHANNESBURG (AP) — G20 leaders will meet at a summit in South Africa this weekend without U.S. representatives after President Donald Trump called a boycott over his widely rejected claims that the host country is persecuting its white Afrikaner minority.
Trump's decision to withdraw the United States – and himself – from the Johannesburg talks is likely to undermine the first meeting of G20 leaders in Africa, as well as South Africa's goal of making progress on issues affecting poor countries, such as the impact of climate change, the cost of a green energy transition and rising levels of public debt.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will also not attend as he cuts back on international travel, meaning the heads of the world's two largest economies will miss a meeting designed to bring developed and developing countries together to tackle pressing global issues.
Bridge between rich and developing countries
The G20 is a group of 19 countries that includes not only the richest but also the world's leading emerging economies. The European Union and the African Union, which joined in 2023, are also members and now have 21 members.
It was created in 1999 and unlike the G7, which only includes the richest democracies, it offers some developing countries a forum to discuss their problems.
Its focus is on the global economy and international development, although it does not have a charter or permanent secretariat – unlike organizations such as the United Nations. It also makes no binding decisions, and critics say there is no meaningful mechanism to put words into action.
The G20 often struggles to reach real consensus due to the differing interests of major powers such as the US, China and Russia, as well as those of Western European countries.
Leaders of the UN, World Bank and International Monetary Fund routinely attend G20 summits as guests.
Boycott USA
Trump said white Afrikaner farmers in South Africa were being killed and their lands were being seized, calling it a disgrace that South Africa was hosting the summit and saying it should be expelled from the G20.
The South African government and other countries, including some Afrikaners themselves, have dismissed Trump's claims of racial persecution as disinformation.
South Africa has been a target of Trump since he returned to office earlier this year, with his administration branding the country un-American because of its diplomatic ties with China, Russia and Iran.
The United States will take over the G20 presidency from South Africa, and although the world's largest economy will boycott the talks, a representative from the US embassy in South Africa will take part in the official transfer of power ceremony at the end of the summit, a White House official said.
Key questions
The country holding the G20 presidency will set the agenda for the annual summit.
South Africa wants climate change and disaster relief, financing the green energy transition, reducing debt levels for poor countries and tackling global inequality to be priorities at the two-day meeting.
It says climate disasters such as drought, floods and cyclones are having a devastating impact on countries that cannot afford to rebuild and require more help from the global community.
South Africa has proposed that G20 leaders create an independent international panel on global wealth inequality, similar to the UN-appointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
It followed a report commissioned by South Africa for the summit and authored by Nobel Prize-winning American economist Joseph Stiglitz, which concluded the world faced an “inequality emergency”.
G20 summits traditionally spark protests, and this week a counter-summit was organized in another part of Johannesburg by groups criticizing the G20 and what they called “a global economic system rigged in favor of elites and billionaires.”
The summit also provides an opportunity for bilateral meetings behind closed doors. New trade agreements are likely to figure into discussions following the Trump administration's tariffs, which have impacted the global economy.
Absent Leaders
Trump and Xi are the most prominent in attendance, although China sent a government delegation led by Premier Li Qiang.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will also not be present, but Russia will be represented by a low-level delegation led by Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Administration Maxim Oreshkin. Putin faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over Russia's war in Ukraine, which obliges South Africa, a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the court, to arrest him if he sets foot on its territory.
Argentine President Javier Miley will also skip the summit in solidarity with his ally Trump.
“If you boycott an event or a process, you have the biggest loser because the show will go on,” Ramaphosa said of Trump's decision not to attend the event.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said they would attend the summit.
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