Trump says he won’t attend G20 Summit in South Africa later this month

New York: US President Donald Trump has said he will not attend the G20 Summit scheduled to be held in South Africa later this month.

“I am not going. We have a G20 meeting in South Africa. South Africa shouldn't even be in the Gs anymore because what's happened there is bad. I told them I'm not going. I'm not going to represent our country there. It shouldn't be there,” Trump said at the America Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday.

South Africa assumed the year-long G20 Presidency on December 1, 2024, and will host the group’s leaders for a summit meeting in Johannesburg from November 22 to 23, the first time the G20 Summit will be held on African soil.

India was the President of the G20 from December 2022 to November 2023 and had hosted the 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023.

Then-US President Joe Biden had travelled to India to attend the G20 Summit.

The G20 comprises 19 countries – Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States as well as the European Union and the African Union.

It was under India’s G20 Presidency that the African Union officially joined the grouping of the world’s major economies as a permanent member.

As he slammed “communist” New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, Trump said that Miami has for generations been a haven for those fleeing communist tyranny in South Africa.

“I mean, take a look at what's happening in different parts of South America. Take a look at what's happening in different parts of the world,” Trump said.