The United States is boycotting South Africa's G20 Leaders' Summit, citing discredited allegations about attacks on white Afrikaners and objections to what it calls a diversity and climate-focused agenda. The unprecedented absence of the world's largest economy, alongside other no‑shows by leaders from Argentina, China and Russia for varying reasons, has cast a shadow over the gathering in Johannesburg.
The G20 Leaders' Summit is opening in Johannesburg under strained international relations after the Trump administration chose to snub the event.
According to reporting by NPR, the United States is boycotting the summit over false, race‑based claims about the treatment of white Afrikaners in South Africa and what the administration describes as the meeting's diversity, equity and inclusion agenda. Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has accused the South African government of confiscating white‑owned land and allowing the killing of white Afrikaners, accusations that South African officials and experts say are not supported by evidence.
Earlier this month, Trump told supporters: "You know we have a G20 meeting in South Africa, South Africa shouldn't even be in the Gs anymore, because what happened there is bad," according to NPR.
South African officials have repeatedly tried to counter the U.S. claims. President Cyril Ramaphosa has kept a measured tone, saying this week of Washington's absence: "Their absence is their loss," in remarks reported by NPR. Analysts say the standoff is a blow to Pretoria's efforts to showcase South Africa on the global stage as it hosts the first G20 summit on African soil.
The dispute underscores a more fragmented international landscape. William Gumede, an associate professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, described the situation to NPR as "symbolic of the fractured global moment that we are in" and said it was "almost an alternative summit without China and without America."
Other notable absences add to the sense of a diminished gathering. Argentine President Javier Milei has said he will not attend in solidarity with Trump, NPR reports. Chinese President Xi Jinping, leader of the world's second‑largest economy, is also not coming; officials and analysts note he has recently scaled back international travel. Russian President Vladimir Putin will stay away as well, because he faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over the war in Ukraine.
The summit's official themes of "solidarity, equality, sustainability" have drawn sharp criticism from Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused South Africa of pushing a "DEI and climate change" agenda, language that NPR reports is anathema to the Trump administration’s approach to multilateral forums.
Tensions escalated further as foreign dignitaries arrived in South Africa. Ramaphosa told reporters that the United States had made an eleventh‑hour approach about potential participation. "We have received notice from the United States… about a change of mind about participating in one shape, form or another in the Summit," he said, adding that "the United States being the biggest economy in the world, needs to be there, so it is pleasing there is a change of approach," according to NPR’s account of his remarks.
The White House swiftly pushed back. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: "The United States is not participating in official talks at the G20 in South Africa. I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the United States and the president of the United States and that language is not appreciated," NPR reports.
Because the United States is due to take over the rotating G20 presidency from South Africa, Leavitt said the U.S. would send the embassy's chargé d'affaires — viewed by Pretoria as a junior official — for the symbolic handover. Ramaphosa's spokesman responded on X, saying: "The president won't hand over to a chargé," according to NPR.
Diplomats told Reuters that G20 envoys nonetheless managed to agree on a draft leaders' declaration without U.S. input, with South Africa emphasizing issues such as solidarity with developing nations, climate‑related disasters and green energy transitions.
At home, the summit has provoked mixed reactions. Residents of Johannesburg, a city long plagued by crumbling infrastructure and chronic electricity and water shortages, have complained that authorities are sprucing up streets and public spaces for visiting delegations while basic services remain unreliable, NPR reports. Local critics say the cosmetic clean‑up highlights a disconnect between the government's international ambitions and daily realities for ordinary citizens.
Civil society groups are also using the summit to highlight South Africa's most pressing social crises. On November 21, hundreds of women dressed in black staged a 15‑minute lie‑down protest in a Johannesburg park to draw attention to gender‑based violence, which activists say kills an average of around 15 women a day. The action, organized by the nonprofit Women for Change, took place on the eve of the G20 and formed part of a broader campaign demanding tougher measures against femicide, according to the Associated Press.
The clash over race and representation has spilled into a "war of billboards" in Johannesburg. NPR reports that a right‑wing Afrikaner organization has erected signs describing South Africa as "the most race‑regulated country in the world" in protest at affirmative action policies. In response, Betereinders, a liberal Afrikaner group, has put up a billboard featuring the Springboks rugby team with white players carrying Black captain Siya Kolisi. The ad is accompanied by a tongue‑in‑cheek quotation from Trump, reading: "Terrible things are happening in South Africa."
As the summit moves toward its scheduled conclusion on Sunday, diplomats are working to secure a joint communiqué among the attending countries. One of the key questions, analysts say, is whether any final declaration can carry weight without the support of the United States, which is not expected to sign.
