G20 without the USA: How Trump’s Boycott Shifts Focus to China and the Brics

The G20 summit in South African Johannesburg this year is taking place under special circumstances: Several economically and militarily significant member states’ heads of state and government are skipping the meeting. Most notably, US President Donald Trump, who fully boycotts the summit over the weekend, withdrawing from the G20 consultations for the first time in history – since their first meeting in Washington in 2008. Trump justifies his absence with serious accusations against the South African government. He accuses them of persecuting and killing white farmers and expropriating their land, even speaking of a genocide against whites without providing evidence. Pretoria strongly denies the allegations. The actual reasons for Trump’s boycott are likely different, though: The priorities set by South Africa – the fight against the climate crisis and the economic empowerment of African developing countries – hardly match Trump’s political agenda. He does not believe in man-made climate change, has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement, and discontinued US development aid, which has serious consequences for many African countries. In addition to Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are also absent. Both send high-level representatives: Xi sends Prime Minister Li Qiang, and Putin is represented by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Maxim Oreshkin. In total, only 13 of the 19 G20 heads of state and government are present in person.