Overview
- The White House said its Chargé d’Affaires in Pretoria will attend only the formal handover and will not join summit discussions, with officials calling reports of broader U.S. participation "fake news."
- South Africa rejected a low‑level handover, with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office saying he will not pass the G20 gavel to a chargé d’affaires and vowing the host will not be bullied.
- Washington’s boycott traces to President Donald Trump’s disputed claims of persecution of white Afrikaner farmers, allegations South Africa and independent sources have rejected.
- Leaders are arriving in Johannesburg for the first G20 held in Africa, though Trump and China’s Xi Jinping are absent, and the United States is still due to assume the presidency next year.
- Pretoria is pressing for a leaders’ declaration aligned with its "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability" priorities on debt relief, climate and inequality, while talks continue over whether a full declaration or only a chair’s statement is possible.