Historic G20 in Johannesburg Opens amid US Boycott and Tensions over Climate, Debt and Inequality

Johannesburg hosted the G20 leaders' summit for the first time on African soil, with delegations gathering to tackle long-standing development challenges affecting poorer nations. South Africa, as the rotating president, framed the meeting around climate resilience, sovereign debt relief, green energy transitions and responsible development of critical minerals — an agenda intended to address widening global inequality.

South Africa's agenda

South Africa used its presidency to push for greater financial and technical support for countries recovering from climate-related disasters, measures to ease unsustainable debt burdens, and assistance to accelerate transitions to low-carbon energy. Johannesburg’s hosts also emphasized helping developing nations harness critical mineral resources in ways that deliver local jobs and long-term prosperity.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he hoped the G20 would prioritize developing-country concerns and deliver meaningful reforms, noting that South Africa had placed those issues squarely on the table.

US boycott and diplomatic tensions

The summit proceeded without the participation of U.S. leaders after President Donald Trump announced a boycott, saying he objected to South Africa’s treatment of its Afrikaner minority — a claim presented by the White House as justification for the absence. The administration also criticized the summit agenda, portraying it as overly focused on climate and social issues.

The diplomatic rift deepened in the run-up to the summit. U.S. Senator Marco Rubio earlier skipped a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, dismissing the agenda as centered on diversity, equity and climate change and saying he would not support what he called a misuse of U.S. taxpayer funds for those priorities.

French President Emmanuel Macron expressed regret about the U.S. absence but urged other leaders to push ahead. “Our duty is to be present, engage and work all together because we have so many challenges,” he said.

How the G20 works

The G20 brings together 19 countries plus the European Union to coordinate on international economic and financial policy. Created in 1999 to bridge rich and emerging economies during financial crises, the group’s members represent roughly 85% of global GDP, about 75% of international trade and more than half of the world’s population. Decisions are reached by consensus rather than by binding votes, which can make agreement difficult when national interests diverge.

Uncertain leaders' declaration

G20 summits typically end with a leaders’ declaration summarizing agreed priorities, but Johannesburg faced uncertainty about whether a joint communique could be produced in Washington’s absence. South African officials said the U.S. had urged them not to issue a joint declaration and instead to convert the final text into a host-only statement.

President Cyril Ramaphosa pushed back, declaring “we will not be bullied,” and pledged that a declaration signed by attending members would be issued at the summit’s close regardless of U.S. participation.

Handover and the road ahead

The summit’s outcomes may be short-lived in influence: the United States will assume the rotating G20 presidency after this meeting and the incoming administration has signaled different priorities. The White House said the only U.S. role at the Johannesburg meeting would be for a representative from the U.S. Embassy in South Africa to accept the formal handover of the presidency — a move Pretoria called an insult. South African Foreign Ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said President Ramaphosa would not hand over the presidency to what South Africa regards as a junior embassy official, and that no formal handover at the summit was expected.

As leaders depart, the central questions remain: whether Johannesburg’s emphasis on climate justice, debt relief and green development will translate into concrete commitments without full participation from the world’s largest economy, and whether the summit can restore trust among members enough to produce a meaningful joint declaration.