South Africa will take a ‘break’ from G-20 under Trump, presidency says

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s presidency joked on Dec 4 that the country would “take a commercial break” from the Group of 20 while US President Donald Trump leads the forum, after Mr Trump’s administration confirmed it will not invite South Africa to participate.

The US took over the rotating presidency of the G-20 last week, after boycotting the summit that President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted in Johannesburg
.

“About this time next year, the UK will be taking over the G-20 presidency. We will be able to engage meaningfully and substantively over what really matters to the rest of the world,” said Mr Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya.

“For now, we will take a commercial break until we resume normal programming,” he wrote on social media.

Relations between Washington and Pretoria have reached a low in 2025 as Mr Trump has repeatedly made false claims about a “white genocide” in South Africa and criticised the country for its policies aimed at addressing racial inequality.

Mr Trump’s administration also opposed the theme of South Africa’s G-20 presidency, which was “solidarity, equality and sustainability”.

Mr Trump had already said that South Africa would not be invited to the
2026 G-20 leaders’ summit
he will be hosting in Florida, but it was unclear whether Pretoria would also be excluded from the many meetings leading up to it.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to confirm on Dec 3 that South Africa would not be able to take part in any G-20 engagements in 2026.

“President Trump and the United States will not be extending an invitation to the South African government to participate in the G-20 during our presidency,” he said in a statement.

South Africa is a founding member of the G-20, which brings together the world’s largest economies.

Presidential spokesperson Magwenya said previously that Pretoria would not lobby other nations for support, but that it had received messages of solidarity from a number of other G-20 members. REUTERS