U.S. denies ending South Africa G20 boycott

President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday (November 20, 2025) vehemently denied South Africa’s announcement that the United States was ending a boycott of this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg, saying no U.S. official would participate in talks.

President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier Thursday described an Eleventh-hour about-turn by the Trump administration, which had relentlessly attacked South Africa over remedy of white minority farmers by the post-apartheid authorities.

The White House stated the U.S. ambassador would attend however just for a handover ceremony because the United States will subsequent yr host the summit of the membership of world financial powers, at a golf membership owned by Trump in Florida.

“The United States is just not collaborating in official talks on the G20 in South Africa,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt advised reporters.

G20 Summit LIVE updates – November 21, 2025

“I noticed the South African President working his mouth just a little bit towards the United States and the President of the United States earlier at this time, and that language is just not appreciated by the president or his crew,” she stated.

What Ramaphosa stated

Mr. Ramaphosa earlier stated that the United States had a “change of thoughts about collaborating in a single form, kind or different, within the summit.”

Mr. Ramaphosa stated the supposed change of coronary heart was “a optimistic signal”.

“All international locations are right here, and the United States, the largest economic system on this planet, must be right here,” he stated.

Mr. Ramaphosa’s remarks got here regardless of the U.S. embassy in Pretoria sending a discover that it will not attend.

In the weekend message, it stated South Africa’s G20 priorities “run counter to the US coverage views and we can’t assist consensus on any paperwork negotiated beneath your presidency.”

The agenda included enhancing debt sustainability for low-income international locations, financing a “simply power transition” and harnessing “important minerals for inclusive progress and sustainable improvement”.

Trump pulls U.S. from world gatherings

The Group of 20 represents some 85 % of the worldwide economic system, with its summits turning into main gatherings for world leaders because the financial disaster of 2008.

Mr. Trump had initially agreed to ship Vice President J.D. Vance earlier than ruling out any participation.

The G20 summit is the newest main worldwide gathering to be snubbed by the United States beneath Mr. Trump.

The United States can be shunning the continued COP30 local weather talks in Brazil, with Mr. Trump as a substitute defending fossil fuels and rejecting the scientific consensus on the planet’s rising temperatures.

Mr. Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh remedy since he returned to the White House in January, typically seizing on far-right commentary on the web.

Mr. Trump has repeated debunked claims that white Afrikaners are being systematically “killed and slaughtered” within the nation, which has excessive ranges of violence. The Trump administration additionally expelled South Africa’s ambassador after he accused Trump of racism.

Mr. Trump has imposed 30% commerce tariffs on South Africa, the very best in sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite Mr. Trump’s boycott, U.S. companies are effectively represented at a separate Business 20 (B20) occasion that wound up in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, thanked South Africa for fostering “actual collaboration between G20 nations throughout a time of speedy change” throughout its presidency.

“The US Chamber of Commerce will use our B20 management to foster worldwide collaboration,” Ms. Clark stated.

The United States has vital enterprise pursuits in South Africa with greater than 600 US corporations working there, in response to the South African embassy in Washington.