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South Africa has accused the US of attempting “coercion by absentia” after Donald Trump’s administration confirmed it would boycott the G20 meeting in Johannesburg and said no final statement by G20 leaders could be issued without its presence.
The US sent a note last weekend confirming none of its officials would be attending the G20 leaders’ summit on 22 to 23 November, the first to be held in Africa, and that it would not accept any declaration issued at the end of it.
Trump has accused South Africa of racially discriminating against the minority white Afrikaner community, which led the country during the apartheid regime that ended in 1994. South Africa’s government has vehemently denied the allegations.
Chrispin Phiri, a spokesperson for South Africa’s foreign ministry, said: “Washington’s absence negates its role over the G20’s conclusions. But we cannot allow coercion by absentia to become a viable tactic; it is a recipe for institutional paralysis and the breakdown of collective action.”
The note from the US embassy in Pretoria said that the US would accept only a “chair’s statement” rather than a leaders’ declaration, according to AFP.
The note read: “South Africa’s G20 priorities run counter to US policy views, and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency. The US opposes issuance of any G20 summit outcome document under the premise of a consensus G20 position without US agreement.”
South Africa’s priorities for its G20 presidency include improving debt sustainability for low income countries and more finance for a “just energy transition” away from fossil fuels. It has invited an additional 22 countries to the summit.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said in February that South Africa’s G20 themes of “solidarity, equality, & sustainability” amounted to “anti-Americanism”.
The US, which is taking over the presidency of the G20 next year, has also criticised the forum’s expansion from its initial focus on global financial and economic issues when it was founded in 1999.
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said at an Oval Office event: “We have whittled down the G20 back to basics … the G20 had become basically the G100 this past year. So it will be a concentrated group in Miami, seeing the best America has to offer, with American leadership.”
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, told reporters last week: “I have said in the past I don’t want to hand over to an empty chair.
“But the empty chair will be there, probably symbolically hand over to that empty chair and talk to President Trump and say, ‘Even though you are not here, I am now handing over to you the reins of chairing or being president of the G20.’ Because the G20 as an entity continues, whether they are here or not.”
The G20, which includes 19 of the world’s largest economies and the European Union, traditionally issues a communique at the end of the leaders’ summit every year. Last year, Ukraine and its western allies criticised the final statement for not mentioning that Russia had invaded Ukraine.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
