South African president Cyril Ramaphosa ended the G20 meeting in Johannesburg by striking a gavel after rejecting a US request that the presidency be handed over to a relatively junior embassy official ahead of next year’s summit in Florida. The dispute over who should formally receive the rotating presidency — and the absence of a US delegation — cast a shadow over the two-day talks.
South Africa framed the summit as a win for multilateralism, but the US boycott dominated coverage. The White House has accused South Africa of discriminating against white-minority Afrikaners, an allegation that has been widely challenged. In his closing remarks Ramaphosa said leaders had met despite significant challenges and signalled the summit was concluded as the G20 moves to the United States next year; that was his only direct reference to the absent American team.
The G20 communique stressed renewed commitments on climate action and gender equality. The report noted these priorities despite the Trump administration’s earlier withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and its rollbacks of various policies on sexism, racism and LGBTQ rights.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly criticised Ramaphosa, saying South Africa had refused to facilitate a smooth transition and was weaponising its presidency. Pretoria has countered that protocol concerns justified its position and offered to host a handover ceremony at the foreign ministry with an equivalent junior diplomat if the US preferred. Foreign minister Ronald Lamola told reporters that South Africa had done its part and that it was now up to the United States to respond.
Argentina, whose president Javier Milei also skipped the summit, declined to endorse the declaration. Argentina’s foreign minister said the text failed to capture the full complexity of the long-running Middle East conflict. The G20 communique called for efforts toward a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Ukraine, and for an end to other global conflicts.
Several high-profile leaders were absent, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum. Putin remains wanted by the International Criminal Court, of which South Africa is a signatory, and Xi delegated many international duties this year to premier Li Qiang. The G20, created after the late-1990s Asian financial crisis and expanded to include the African Union as a permanent member in 2023, will next meet in 2026 at the Trump National Doral Miami resort. Reuters contributed to this report.
