Now Reading: Trump Skips South Africa G20 Summit As Tensions Arise
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Trump Skips South Africa G20 Summit As Tensions Arise
Washington’s boycott casts a shadow over the first G20 summit on African soil, as Trump’s unilateral Ukraine peace plan triggers pushback from European allies.
A major diplomatic rift hung over Johannesburg on Saturday as world leaders gathered for the first G20 summit ever hosted on African soil, without the President of the United States. Donald Trump’s decision to boycott the meeting set the tone for a weekend overshadowed by disagreements on Ukraine, global trade, and climate action.
The summit brought together key global players, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Li Qiang, Brazil’s Lula da Silva, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. But Trump’s absence loomed large, especially after his administration unveiled a surprise, unilateral peace plan for Ukraine that aligns closely with Russia’s interests.
European leaders quickly pushed back. After a tense call with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted that no proposal on ending the war can stand without full coordination with European partners. “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said, announcing an emergency meeting among European leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
Trump, however, has warned Kyiv that it has only a short window to accept his administration’s plan, telling a US radio network that “Thursday is an appropriate deadline.”
The G20 meeting also intersected with stalled global climate negotiations. COP30 talks in Brazil, already running beyond schedule, remained deadlocked as oil-producing countries reportedly resisted a clear commitment to phasing out fossil fuels. South Africa, meanwhile, hoped to use the summit to push for debt relief for poorer nations, increased support for clean energy transitions, and a pact on critical mineral supply chains.
President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed optimism that the summit could still deliver a joint declaration, despite Washington’s boycott and US warnings that the G20 should not issue any statement on America’s behalf.
European leaders defended the relevance of the forum, with European Council president Antonio Costa calling multilateral cooperation “our best, maybe our only defence against disruption and chaos.”
In a move mirroring his absence from COP30, Trump has sent no official US delegation to Johannesburg. Only the chargé d’affaires from the US embassy is expected to attend the closing ceremony, ahead of the United States hosting next year’s G20 summit at a golf resort owned by Trump in Florida.
The G20, made up of 19 countries plus the EU and African Union, accounts for 85% of global GDP and roughly two-thirds of the world’s population.
