Coming, not coming? This time, Washington seems confident in its decision: the United States “will not participate in official discussions” G20 in South Africa, held in Johannesburg on Saturday and Sunday. This was conveyed by the White House on Thursday, which cut short a report regarding the American presence in South Africa. “The United States will not participate in official G20 discussions in South Africa”American executive spokesperson Karoline Leavitt finally announced at a press conference held this Thursday evening. At most, he said, the United States, which takes over the rotating leadership of the G20 next year, would be represented as the next country.host” from above.
Initially, Vice President JD Vance was to represent Washington at the summit. But Washington is waging open war against Pretoria over the fate of white farmers, whom the Trump administration says are the victims. “genocide”.
However, this Thursday morning, South Africa assured that Washington had changed its mind and finally wanted to sit down at the meeting table. “We have received notification from the United States, notification that we are still discussing with them, regarding a change of mind regarding their participation in the summit, in one form or another”said President Ramaphosa this Thursday afternoon to the press, two days before the summit.
Words are rated “insulting” by the American government which rejected the desire to participate in the G20 meeting. Therefore, the American government remains faithful to Trumpian logic. On November 8, Donald Trump called for “scandal» holding the summit in South Africa.
America’s decision to boycott the summit came in the context of tensions between the two countries. Bad relations between South Africa and the United States resulted in the expulsion of the South African ambassador to Washington in March and a 30% import duty imposed by the United States on South Africa, which is the highest tariff in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Several issues were also raised by Washington to justify its hostile attitude towards the South African government, such as South Africa’s complaint against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its war in Gaza and of course the alleged persecution of Afrikaners, descendants of the first European settlers.
