{"id":193630,"date":"2025-12-14T23:27:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T23:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-now-wants-to-reverse-its-boycott-and-join-the-g20-summit-south-african-president-says-pbs\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T23:27:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T23:27:47","slug":"u-s-now-wants-to-reverse-its-boycott-and-join-the-g20-summit-south-african-president-says-pbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/u-s-now-wants-to-reverse-its-boycott-and-join-the-g20-summit-south-african-president-says-pbs\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. now wants to reverse its boycott and join the G20 summit, South African president says – PBS"},"content":{"rendered":"

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JOHANNESBURG (AP) \u2014 The United States government has indicated that it has had a \u201cchange of mind\u201d and wants to participate at the Group of 20 summit in South Africa in a reverse of its boycott, the South African president said Thursday.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the summit host country had received communication from the U.S. at \u201cthe 11th hour\u201d and was now working on the logistics to accommodate the U.S.
READ MORE:<\/strong> At the first G20 summit held in Africa, leaders urge the rich world to do more against climate disasters<\/a>
U.S. President Donald Trump had announced that his administration would boycott the two-day meeting of rich and developing nations in Johannesburg that opens on Saturday. Trump has said the U.S. was boycotting over his claims that Ramaphosa\u2019s government is violently persecuting a white minority.
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Ramaphosa, who was speaking after a meeting with top European Union officials in Johannesburg, said communications from the U.S. had been received while he was at that meeting.
\u201cThe United States is a member of the G20, they are an original member of the G20, so they have the right to be here,\u201d Ramaphosa told reporters. \u201cAnd all we are seeking to do is looking at the practicalities … for them to participate.\u201d
Ramaphosa said \u201chopefully\u201d the U.S. seat at the summit would be occupied when it opens, but gave no indication who might represent the U.S. government.
READ MORE:<\/strong> Trump says U.S. will boycott G20 in South Africa, repeating claims about \u2018abuses\u2019 of white farmers<\/a>
Trump had said that Vice President JD Vance would represent the U.S. before he announced the boycott.
Ramaphosa earlier Thursday had said that the meeting would issue a joint declaration despite the U.S. boycott and what he said was pressure from Washington not to issue one. He said the U.S. had sent diplomatic communication to South Africa advising that that \u201cthere should be no declaration adopted\u201d at the summit because the U.S. was not there and therefore there would be no consensus.
Instead, the U.S. wants a toned-down statement from South Africa only to cap the summit, which is a culmination of more than 120 meetings that Africa\u2019s most advanced economy has hosted since it took over the G20\u2019s rotating presidency for this year.
Trump has repeatedly targeted South Africa for criticism since he returned to office. He held a tense meeting with Ramaphosa at the White House in May, when he confronted South Africa\u2019s leader with baseless claims of widespread violence against Afrikaners in South Africa.
READ MORE:<\/strong> How Trump\u2019s support for white South Africans led to a U.S. boycott of the G20 summit<\/a>
The U.S. president has repeated his claims in the leadup to the G20 that Ramaphosa\u2019s Black-led government is pursuing racist anti-white policies against the Afrikaner white minority.
The U.S. will take over the rotating presidency of the G20 from South Africa and Ramaphosa has previously said he will have to pass it to Trump\u2019s \u201cempty chair\u201d in Johannesburg, though he said he would talk to Trump after the summit.
The G20 is a bloc made up of 19 nations, including the richest but also the top developing economies. The European Union and the African Union are also members.
South Africa, which is the first African nation to hold the rotating presidency, is hoping to use its summit to make progress on issues especially affecting poor countries. That includes mitigating the impact of climate change and weather-related disasters, easing debt burdens for developing countries and confronting global wealth inequality.
READ MORE:<\/strong> Trump limits annual U.S. refugees to 7,500. It\u2019ll be mostly white South Africans<\/a>
The U.S. has previously derided South Africa\u2019s priorities for the group, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio skipping a G20 foreign ministers meeting in February and dismissing South Africa\u2019s priorities as being about diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change.
Rubio said he would not waste U.S. taxpayer money on that agenda.
Other leaders are also skipping the G20 summit, including China\u2019s Xi Jinping, Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin and Argentina\u2019s Javier Milei, but they have sent delegations to represent them.
\u201cThe only country that is not in the room is the United States and, of course, is their choice not to be in the room,\u201d Xolisa Mabhongo, a South African ambassador to the G20, told national broadcaster SABC this week.
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<\/use><\/svg>Left:<\/span> South African President Cyril Ramaphosa attends a news conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa at the end of a South Africa\u2013EU leaders meeting, ahead of the G20 Summit, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Nov. 20, 2025. Photo by Yves Herman\/ Reuters
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Your monthly donation keeps PBS News strong Gerald Imray, Associated Press Gerald Imray, Associated Press Mogomotsi Magome, Associated Press Mogomotsi Magome, Associated Press Leave your feedbackJOHANNESBURG (AP) \u2014 The United States government has indicated that it has had a \u201cchange of mind\u201d and wants to participate at the Group of 20 summit in South Africa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":193631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-193630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}