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JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s president said on Thursday the US had signalled it might change its mind and participate in the Nov 22-23 G20 summit in Johannesburg after a boycott by the Trump administration, but the White House dismissed the report as “fake news”.
Cyril Ramaphosa was speaking at a joint news conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antnio Costa.
“We have received notice from the United States, a notice which we are still in discussions with them over, about a change of mind, about participating in one shape or form or other in the summit,” he said.
“This comes in the days before the summit. And so therefore we need to engage in those types of discussions to see how practical it is and what it finally really means.” President Donald Trump’s administration had said it will not attend the first G20 summit in Africa, alleging that the host country, previously ruled by its white minority apartheid system until 1994, discriminates against white people.
On Thursday, a White House official said an envoy would attend a ceremony for the official handover of the G20 presidency from South Africa to the US, but there was no question of Washington participating.
“This is fake news. The charg d’affaires in Pretoria will attend the handover ceremony as a formality, but the United States is not joining G20 discussions,” they added.
But South African presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said “the president will not hand over to a charg d’affaires”.
Ramaphosa said last week of the handover of the G20 presidency to the United States: “I don’t want to hand over to an empty chair, but the empty chair will be there.”
S. Africa’s priorities questioned
The US has clashed with South Africa over various international and domestic policies this year, extending its objections to Pretoria’s G20 priorities for the meeting of leading economies being held for the first time in Africa.
“We have received notice from the United States, a notice which we are still in discussions with them over, about a change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other in the summit,” Ramaphosa told reporters.
“This comes at the late hour before the summit begins. And so therefore, we do need to engage in those types of discussions to see how practical it is and what it finally really means,” he said.
In a note to the government on Saturday, the US embassy repeated that it would not attend the summit, saying South Africa’s G20 priorities “run counter to the US policy views and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency”.
In response, Ramaphosa said earlier on Thursday that South Africa would not be bullied.
“It cannot be that a country’s geographical location or income or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to,” Ramaphosa told delegates at a G20 curtain-raiser event.
There “should be no bullying of one nation by another”, he said.
Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on a number of issues since he returned to the White House in January, notably making debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.
He expelled South Africa’s ambassador in March and has imposed 30 per cent trade tariffs, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
US businesses were well represented at a separate Business 20 (B20) event that wound up in Johannesburg on Thursday.
The head of the US Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, thanked South Africa for fostering “real collaboration between G20 nations during a time of rapid change” during its rotating presidency, which transfers to the United States for 2026.
The United States has significant business interests in South Africa with more than 600 US companies operating in the country, according to the South African embassy in Washington.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2025
