The first cycle of G20 leaders’ summits has come to a close. The initial leaders’ summit hosted by George W Bush, then US president, gathered in Washington November 14-15th, 2008 at a time of growing crisis – this the 2008 Global Financial Crisis (GFC).
The upcoming 2026 G20 summit returns to the United States with Donald Trump as the host for this year’s G20 Leaders’ Summit. My good colleague, Colin Bradford, a non-resident Senior Fellow at Brookings, and Co-Chair with me at CWD – now the Changing World Dialogue, and closely involved since the G20 commencement with the annual G20 summit process, pointed me to the State Department announcement of the initiation of the US hosting:
“”Effective today, December 1, 2025, the United States has assumed the 2026 Presidency of the Group of 20 (G20). Under President Trump’s leadership, we will return the G20 to focusing on its core mission of driving economic growth and prosperity to produce results.”…
“We look forward to hosting the G20 Leaders’ Summit in one of America’s greatest cities, Miami, Florida, during the 250th anniversary year of the United States.””
The initiation of Trump US hosting, however, has been rather chaotic, but I suppose no surprise given that Donald Trump is president and now summit host for this G20. Now Trump is no fan of multilateralism. That makes US hosting of this singular Informal troubling. And recent Trump administration actions underscore this and I guess unsurprising but slightly dispiriting.
First Trump boycotted the G20 Summit in Johannesburg and then disinvited South Africa from the US G20. As described by Monica Mark in the FT:
“On Monday, South Africa symbolically passed on the G20 presidency to the US, but the handover — which normally takes place between heads of state at the summit — became a low-key event at the foreign ministry after President Cyril Ramaphosa declined a last-minute request to hand over to a diplomat.”
“Trump said this refusal triggered his decision to exclude South Africa.”
““Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year,” he [Donald Trump] wrote on Truth Social.”
As a result of his disinvitation, in the first appearance of US hosting, according to the SCMP:
“US President Donald Trump on Monday launched the US presidency of the Group of 20 by wiping clean the website of outgoing host South Africa, which he is not inviting to next year’s summit.”
“The G20 website now simply has a picture of Trump in black and white that says “Miami 2026” and “The Best Is Yet to Come”, the title of the song popularised by Frank Sinatra.”
As for the aim of the US G20 summit, again from SCMP:
“The State Department said Trump will “return the G20 to focusing on its core mission of driving economic growth and prosperity to produce results”.”
““We will prioritise three core themes: unleashing economic prosperity by limiting regulatory burdens, unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains, and pioneering new technologies and innovations,” it said in a statement.”
The goal of the G20, according to the US, as described in India’s The Economic Times in a piece entitled, “US unveils ‘New G20’ for 2026, excludes South Africa over ‘politics of grievance’”:
“In a blog post authored by Rubio, titled ‘America Welcomes a New G20’, the Secretary of State stated that the US hosting the G20 Leaders’ Summit, set for December 2026 in Miami, Florida, will also mark America’s 250th anniversary. The US will host the G20 summit for the first time since 2009.”
“According to Rubio, the “New G20” will focus on three core themes–removing regulatory burdens, unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains, and pioneering technologies like Artificial Intelligence–through four working groups.”
“”Under President Trump’s leadership, the G20 will use four working groups to achieve progress on three key themes: removing regulatory burdens, unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains, and pioneering new technologies and innovation,” the post read.”
Now it is not clear what this disinvitation by President Trump really means in the context of the G20:
“South Africa, long a champion of multilateralism, vowed it would still attend the meetings, which are due to take place at Trump’s personal golf club.”
“Ramaphosa said his country was a member “in its own name and right. Its G20 membership is at the behest of all other members.””
Now there were statements that the US might deny visas to South African officials but it is not clear what that exactly means for South African officials intending to attend sherpa gatherings, ministerial meetings or task force or working group sessions. And there are some expressions by South Africa officials that they may just lie low and await the UK hosting in 2027.
There are 2 conclusions for me from this early Trump turbulence. First it is clear that some of the critical multilateral issues attended to by the G20, such as climate change, or global development financing will not be addressed by this G20. But additionally it is evident that the G20 has expressed many declarations but little in the way of agreed collective action.
And a second conclusion. At CWD among some other research groups, we have urged plurilateral action – but for sure a focus on agreed action. Here might be the moment where South Africa and a number of other G20 actors, say Canada and from Europe and from the Indo-Pacific, could come together and fashion a roadmap forward for climate or development financing. It would be a start to multilateral action as opposed to just endless declarations. It is time for parts of the G20, at least as a start, to initiate G20 multilateral action. Don’t let Trump undermine multilateralism.