G20 2026 Miami

The 2026 G20 Presidency makes its return to the United States, bringing the rotating Presidency back to its start in the country where the first G20 Summit was held. Much like the current G7 Presidency in France, a key theme of the G20 Presidency is ‘returning’ the forum to its original purpose. However, where France has interpreted the G7’s original purpose in terms of its values of cooperation and dialogue, the Trump administration has interpreted the purpose of the G20 in narrow economic terms and stripped away the wider agenda of the G20. For the 2026 Presidency, the mission of the G20 is ‘driving economic growth and prosperity to produce results’, which it has operationalised into three themes:

1. Removing regulatory burdens
2. Unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains
3. Pioneering innovations in AI and emerging technologies

While the G20 is primarily an economic forum, historically, the G20 has focused on a broad set of global issues, ranging from development and health, to anti-corruption and employment. This is reflective of the Group’s constituents, which includes more middle-income and emerging economies relative to the G7. However, the G7 has widened the scope of its agenda since its inception beyond economic matters. The current G7 agenda includes online child protection as a major priority, and previous G7 agendas have featured gender equality, migration, and climate change as key issues.

Washington’s decision to narrow the G20 agenda reflects the Trump administration’s scepticism and withdrawal from multilateralism in the name of an ‘America first’ policy. Since taking office for the second time, the Trump administration has denounced Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals, which it sees as laden with ‘‘gender and climate ideology’, and which promotes a governance that is ‘adverse to the rights and interests of Americans’. In January 2025, Trump paused most of the US’s foreign development funding, leading to the closure of USAID, its humanitarian assistance agency. Now in January 2026, Trump withdrew the US from 66 international organizations in the name of ‘restoring American sovereignty’.

Washington’s stance towards multilateralism caused headlines building up to the US’s takeover of its G20 Presidency. During the South African G20 Presidency in the previous year, the US had been unhappy with the theme set by Pretoria – Solidarity, Sustainability, Equality – and limited US participation in various meetings throughout the year. This was fuelled by the existing bilateral tensions between the US and South Africa over claims that Pretoria was perpetuating a genocide against the White Afrikaners in South Africa. The US’s displeasure toward the direction of the G20 agenda for 2025, and its then-hosts, came to a head at the final Leader’s Summit in Johannesburg. The US boycotted the Summit. This prompted South Africa to postpone the ceremonial handover of the G20 Presidency, given that the US had only sent their charge d’affaires – a junior official – to represent them. The official handover took place in a low-key event a few days after the Leader’s Summit, in a break from the traditional handover at the Summit between the heads of state. 

The US has continued its antagonism towards South Africa under its Presidency. US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced that the US will not be inviting South Africa to participate in the G20. It is not fully clear what the implications are of this exclusion. South Africa is an official member of the G20 and, as previous hosts of the G20, forms part of the organising committee for the current Leader’s Summit alongside current hosts, the US, and future hosts, the UK. As it stands, however, the US has been able to sideline South Africa from the front-facing aspects of the G20. South Africa was excluded from the first Sherpa’s meeting under the US’s Presidency and currently does not appear on the official website for the G20. South Africa was also absent from the latest G20 meeting between Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that was held on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the World Bank and IMF in April 2026. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and a South African delegation was in Washington for the Spring Meetings, but Godongwana explained that the US did not grant accreditation to the delegation for the G20 meeting, leading to South Africa’s absence. The fact that Washington has not granted Pretoria accreditation means that South Africa could potentially not be part of the G20 for the whole of the US cycle. Finance Minister Godongwana has hinted at this by saying that, ‘We’ve [South Africa] taken a view that for us it is a holiday from the G20 this year. We’re beginning in November with the UK presidency.’, In terms of responses from other G20 members, France expressed support for South Africa’s participation in the G20 meetings and Leaders’ Summit, in line with the country’s position as ‘a full-fledged member of the G20’.

While the US announced its decision to exclude South Africa, Secretary of State Rubio further announced that Poland will be invited to ‘assume its rightful place in the G20’, noting how it is now part of the world’s 20 largest economies. This seems to suggest a more prominent role for Poland at the Leaders’s Summit than the US’s other invitees of Azerbaijan, Finland, Ireland, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are notable invitees to the Miami Summit as they likely form part of Washington’s strategic interests in securing access to critical materials, energy transport, and in strengthening its ties across Eurasia. 

News reports have also suggested that Russia has been invited ‘at the highest level’ to participate in the Miami Summit. Trump stated that he was unaware of a personal invitation to Russian President, Vladimir Putin, but that his attendance would be ‘very helpful’. Russia is a member of the G20 and has participated in various G20 meetings, including the Leader’s Summit. However, President Putin has not attended the Leader’s Summit since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. An arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2023 likely added to Putin’s reduced movement, however, the US is not part of the ICC. The Kremlin stated that no decision has been made on whether President Putin will be attending. 

As the US moves forward with its G20 agenda, it does so with the aim of ‘[recognizing] the values of innovation, entrepreneurship, and perseverance that made America great, and which provide a roadmap to prosperity for the entire world’. 

Developing Miami Agenda

1. Removing regulatory burdens: reducing regulation to unlock economic growth. The goal of this priority is promoting governance that enables businesses to invest, innovate and compete globally, with the result being economic expansion while respecting national sovereignty and policy independence. Key areas include pro-growth policies that strengthen national competitiveness and encouraging best practices that support job creation and productivity. 
2. Unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains: promoting affordable, reliable, and secure energy as the foundation of economic growth and national security, with the end goals being stable markets, economic resilience, energy addition, and long-term prosperity. Key areas include expanding access to affordable, reliable and secure energy, strengthening energy security for the US and partners, and ensuring energy sources meet growing demand. 
3. Pioneering innovations in AI and emerging technologies: unlocking the benefits of AI and emerging technologies, and accelerating digital innovation with the goal of strengthening economic growth and tangible benefits to people and business. Key areas here include pro-innovation policies targeting technology development and adoption, deploying emerging technologies to promote economic growth and human flourishing, and strengthening manufacturing, supply chains, and skilled technology talent to drive innovation. 

The G20 schedule of meetings shows a notably slim list of events, extending only to meetings between Sherpas and Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, respectively. The number of meetings in the US G20 schedule for the Finance and Central Bank Governors remains around the same number as the previous G20 Presidencies. However, the public schedule of events does not show any meetings for specific issue-based working groups, such as education, development, or health, nor does it specify any Ministerial Meetings for high-level officials in specific sectors, such as agriculture, tourism or labour, as was the case in past in South Africa, Brazil, and India. 

The Four Working Groups

The economic focus of the Miami agenda appears to be reinforced by the Working Groups. The individual working groups under the Sherpa and Finance Tracks have been consolidated, it appears, under four Working Groups set up by Washington. These working groups are also dedicated to advancing progress on the three overarching themes of the Miami agenda:

1. Trade Working Group: The US sees the future global trading order as one based on fair, reciprocal, and balanced trade. This working group will focus on addressing tariff and non-tariff barriers to restore balance to trade relationships. According to the US G20 website, ‘[I]t is in G20 members’ shared interest to take action in a new direction’. In April 2025, Trump announced a wave of tariffs on most imported goods, and forced major trading partners to negotiate trade deals. A recent US Supreme Court decision in February 2026 ruled against Trump’s use of these tariffs, however, Trump invoked a different statute to impose new temporary tariffs. The US’s continued policy of tariffs has forced a ‘rewiring’ of the global economy. However, some analysts have suggested the economy has remained fairly resilient, and the biggest impacts have been in the political sphere, because of the unilateral nature of the policies. American families and small businesses are also bearing significant costs of Trump’s tariffs, as they bear additional costs on everyday goods, and legal costs for complying with constantly changing trade policies. 
2. Growth and Deregulation Working Group: The agenda of the Finance Track under the US’s Presidency is pro-growth economic policies supported by deregulation The priorities of this group include, regulatory innovation, understanding excessive growth imbalances, enhancing debt transparency and facilitating debt restructuring, promoting a safe digital assets ecosystem, enhancing cross-border payments, and promoting financial literacy.
3. Innovation Working Group: This working group brings together G20 partners to shape technology-driven growth. The goal of this working group is ‘to identify policy principles that promote innovation in AI and other emerging technologies, accelerate scientific and technological advancement, promote economic growth and investment in manufacturing and supply chains, and strengthen public support for these technologies’. Washington aims to facilitate exchange of perspectives to develop ‘principles that foster sovereign policy frameworks to promote innovation, spanning standards, supply chains, and skilled workforces’.
4. Energy Abundance Working Group: Washington’s view is that ‘[u]nder President Trump’s leadership, the United States has demonstrated that deregulation, permitting reform, and market-driven energy production deliver lower costs for consumers, provide for faster infrastructure development, and support genuine innovation’. Based on this perspective, this working group invites leading economies to embrace the US’s approach to ‘each nation choosing its own energy mix, but all committed to the principles of energy security, abundance, addition, and affordability’ to meet the 21st century demand’. Energy has been a major focus of the Trump administration. Trump considers American energy dominance in fossil fuels as a top priority, drawing concerns that there will be a push for fossil fuels under the US G20 Presidency.

The First G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting under the US Presidency

The first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting of the US Presidency took place on the sidelines of the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Washington DC. It was the first meeting since the US and Israel’s attack on Iran in February. This meeting focused on the economic impacts of the war but did not produce a joint statement. No direct criticism was levelled at the hosts, the US, although attendees sought the soonest possible resolution to the conflict, which Japanese Finance Minister, Satsuki Katayama noted, ‘may be a message to the US side’. The US Treasury released a Chair’s Statement at the same meeting and focused on the economic impacts of the conflict in the Middle East. The economic impacts centred on agricultural markets and promoting coordination to promote food security and market stability. The Chair’s Statement closed with a commitment to hosting ‘further discussions on the subject of food and fertilizer in the coming weeks’. Even though Washington will be focusing on an economic agenda for the G20, the recent Finance Minister’s meeting demonstrates that other issues – geopolitical conflict and food security in this case – will filter into this economic agenda because of how they impact the macroeconomic policies and decision-making of Member States.

The G20 Engagement Groups

Washington’s restriction of the Miami agenda to economic matters has also not stopped the broader work developed under the G20, at least on the civil society side. While most of the negotiations for the final document happen in the Sherpa and Finance Tracks, Engagement Groups provide important recommendations for policies developed in G20 meetings, and form the main channel for civil society to engage in G20 processes. Washington has only acknowledged the Business20 (B20) Engagement Group, leaving out other Engagement Groups in formal G20 processes. One of these Engagement Groups is Think20 (T20), the Engagement Group consisting of think tanks and high-level experts from the G20 members that produce policy briefs on topics determined by the G20. Under the US G20 Presidency this year, there is no US official designated as a contact to receive the policy directions of the T20. Nonetheless, the T20 group launched an informal initiative to maintain the continuity of work under the Engagement Group and to support the future G20 presidencies. Regardless of whether one G20 Member State – the US in this case – may wish to advance its own agenda through the G20 group, the group is showing itself to be more than its Members. This echoes similar comments made by South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Raymond Lamola, at the previous Leader’s Summit in South Africa when the US was absent.