World leaders gather in Johannesburg for G20 summit amid US boycott

World leaders arrived in South Africa on November 21 for a landmark Group of 20 summit, the first to be held on African soil, intended to elevate the challenges of poorer nations on the global stage. However, the gathering has been overshadowed by a diplomatic rift between the host nation and the United States following a Trump administration boycott.

The weekend summit will feature delegations from 18 of the world’s richest and most influential developing economies — with the notable exception of the United States. Washington has refused to attend, calling South Africa’s role as host a “disgrace ” and declining participation, Caliber.Az reports via AP. 

The decision came at the direction of US President Donald Trump, who claims that majority-Black South Africa is persecuting its white Afrikaner minority. The boycott by the world’s largest economy and a founding G20 member has cast uncertainty over South Africa’s ambitions for the meeting.

South Africa intends to steer discussions toward issues that disproportionately affect developing nations, including climate-change impacts, mounting debt pressures, and global inequality. Yet strong US opposition has threatened to derail that agenda.

South African officials accused Washington of pressuring them not to issue a leaders’ declaration at the summit’s conclusion in the absence of an American delegation.

A leaders’ declaration traditionally serves as the closing statement of G20 summits, outlining broad areas of consensus, though it does not carry binding force. The bloc has often struggled to implement its commitments due to diverging priorities among members such as the US, China, Russia, India, and Western European countries.

The G20 now includes 21 members: 19 individual nations plus the European Union and the African Union. The group is designed to unite both wealthy and developing economies to address global challenges, particularly those linked to economic stability and development.

By Sabina Mammadli