By Tim Cocks, Alexander Winning and Julia Payne
JOHANNESBURG – G20 envoys agreed on a draft leaders’ statement ahead of a weekend summit in Johannesburg without US input, four sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has indicated it will boycott the November 22-23 summit over disagreements with host country South Africa.
Trump said he would not attend the first G20 summit in Africa amid allegations – which have been widely refuted – that the host country’s black-majority government is persecuting its white minority.
He also rejected the host country’s agenda to promote solidarity and help developing countries adapt to worsening weather disasters, transition to clean energy and reduce their excessive debt costs.
Despite Washington, the G20 countries included references to “climate change” in the draft statement, a source familiar with the matter said, without giving further details. The United States has previously hedged against references to climate change.
WHITE HOUSE CALLS DRAFT DISCLAIMERS
“It is a long-standing tradition of the G20 to issue only consensus outputs and it is shameful that the South African government is now seeking to deviate from this standard practice despite our repeated objections,” said a senior Trump administration official.
While some analysts fear the loss of its most powerful member would derail the G20 declaration, they still saw an opportunity for the South African hosts, determined to set the agenda for global leaders in the face of Trump’s hostility to multilateral diplomacy.
The sources declined to elaborate on the content of the declaration and it was unclear what concessions had to be made on the language to get everyone to agree.
Three of South Africa’s four planned main agenda items – preparing for climate-induced disasters, financing the transition to green energy and ensuring a rush for producers of critical minerals – were primarily related to climate change.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that South Africa was in talks with the United States – which will host the G20 in 2026 – about its possible participation in the summit, although the White House later denied this.
Ramaphosa earlier said he was resigned to handing over an “empty chair”. The White House announced Thursday that it would send the US chargé d’affaires to the G20, an offer the South African presidency rejected.
This article was generated from an automated news agency source without text modification.
