South Africa will host the G20 summit this weekend, prioritizing debt relief for developing nations and efforts to reduce global inequality, while the United States boycotts the gathering. President Cyril Ramaphosa said Washington’s absence from the November 22–23 meeting is “their loss,” as tensions continue between the two countries over the summit’s agenda.
The US, the most influential member of the G20—which accounts for 85 percent of global GDP and about two-thirds of the world’s population—is skipping the event as part of President Donald Trump's broader withdrawal from multilateral platforms. The boycott follows a similar move at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, and comes amid US tariffs on several nations, including a 30 percent tariff on South African goods.
Trump has repeatedly criticized South Africa since returning to the White House in January, including making false claims about violence against white Afrikaners.
South Africa’s G20 theme, “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,” focuses on debt relief for developing countries and financing for climate-related disasters. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously labelled the agenda “anti-American” and skipped a preparatory ministerial meeting earlier this year.
Pretoria argues that debt relief is essential because many African nations spend more on interest payments than on health or education. UN data shows that between 2021 and 2023, African countries spent $70 per capita on debt interest, compared with $63 on education and $44 on health.
Ramaphosa is also pushing for an “International Inequalities Panel,” similar to the IPCC, to guide global action on inequality. A G20-commissioned report led by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz described extreme wealth inequality as a crisis threatening social cohesion and democracy.
Analysts say adopting the proposal would be a significant achievement for South Africa’s presidency and for the wider Global South, whose concerns are often sidelined in global economic forums.
But it remains unclear whether South Africa can secure consensus on a final joint declaration. Diplomats say Argentina—whose president Javier Milei, an ally of Trump, is also boycotting—has been obstructive in negotiations.
With the US absent, China’s Premier Li Qiang is expected to champion multilateralism, reiterating earlier remarks that economic globalisation and multipolarity are “irreversible.” Russia is sending senior aide Maxim Oreshkin instead of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The summit in Johannesburg begins just one day after COP30 concludes in Brazil, and its outcomes may influence G20 discussions. The meeting also concludes a run of Global South presidencies—Indonesia in 2022, India in 2023 and Brazil in 2024—before the United States assumes the presidency.
Washington has already signalled that it will narrow the G20’s focus to economic cooperation at the December 2026 summit, which will be held at a Miami golf course owned by the Trump family.
