The Group of 20 summit this weekend will bring together national leaders from some of the most important countries in the world. President Donald Trump’s decision to skip it is a gamble that the gathering, and not the United States, will become irrelevant.
Trump has planned to boycott the session in Johannesburg for months, citing unproven claims that South Africa has been engaging in a “genocide” against its white Afrikaner minority. He also nixed plans for Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio to attend in his place.
After South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the U.S. would be represented by an empty chair, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the acting ambassador to South Africa, Marc Dillard, will participate in a ceremony at the end of the weekend but not “in official talks.”
This will be the first time since the G20 was established in 2008 that there is no meaningful U.S. presence. Trump attended all four of these meetings during his first term.
On the one hand, these gabfests rarely produce meaningful policy. At the same time, without overhyping the significance, the boycott is part of a short-sighted turn away from global gatherings.
Africa now numbers 1.5 billion people and that number is projected to double by 2070. It is the world’s youngest continent, with the fastest growing population, and several of the world’s hottest economies. A separate Business 20 group, or B20, meeting, in conjunction with the G20, saw a large American contingent, including multinationals with interests in Africa and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Trump may not have much interest in the continent, but a largely transactional president should at least recognize how rich Africa is in critical minerals.
Trump also could have used a trip to affirm the importance of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which has led to job growth and economic vibrancy among several African trading partners with duty-free access to U.S. markets. Despite widespread bipartisan support, the program was allowed to lapse on Oct. 1. Trump has made no commitments to renewing it.
Communiques released at the conclusion of these summits always get more attention than they deserve. Nevertheless, Ramaphosa, as summit chair, will have wide latitude to issue whatever final statement he wants. Much of the work will fall to South African Minister of International Relations Ronald Lamola. He previously served as justice minister, and in that role took Israel to the International Court of Justice for alleged crimes of “genocide” during its war against Hamas. Decrying the boycott, Lamola said: “The G-20 should send a clear message that the world can move on with or without the U.S.”
The South Africans should be careful what they wish for. An American retreat would make the world more dangerous and less prosperous. India, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hopes to fill the void at the G20. After Trump pulled out, other leaders also decided to skip, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Argentina’s President Javier Milei. But Xi sent his premier, Putin sent a deputy chief of staff and Milei sent his foreign minister.
The other problem with not showing up to a party is that it might be hard to get guests to attend your own: The G20 summit will be held next year at Trump’s Doral golf resort near Miami.
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