US President Donald Trump has said he will not attend the G20 Summit to be held in South Africa later this month, questioning the country’s membership in the grouping of major economies. South Africa, which assumed the year-long G20 Presidency on December 1, 2024, will host the Summit in Johannesburg from November 22 to 23, the first time the meeting of G20 leaders will be held on African soil.
“I am not going. We have a G20 meeting in South Africa. South Africa shouldn’t even be in the Gs anymore because what’s happened there is bad. I’m not going. I told them I’m not going. I’m not going to represent our country there. It shouldn’t be there,” Trump said while addressing the America Business Forum Miami in Florida on Wednesday. The US will take over the G20 Presidency from South Africa on December 1, 2025, and will chair the grouping until November 30, 2026.
Trump has previously said he plans to host the 2026 G20 Summit at his golf club near Miami. India held the G20 Presidency from December 2022 to November 2023 and hosted the 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023, which was attended by then US President Joe Biden. The G20 comprises 19 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, the UK, and the US as well as the European Union and the African Union.
It was under India’s G20 Presidency that the African Union was inducted as a permanent member of the grouping. In his remarks, Trump also criticised “communist” New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and said Miami has long been a haven for people fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa.
