On November 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on an official journey to Johannesburg, South Africa to witness the G20 summit. The summit for the current year has gained greater significance as it is hosted in the African continent for the maiden time since the incursion of the African Union(AU) to the G20 club in 2023 during the New Delhi Summit.
“Will be attending the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is a particularly special summit, as it is being held in Africa. Various global issues will be discussed there. Will be meeting various world leaders during the Summit”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on the X social media platform.
Will be attending the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is a particularly special Summit as it is being held in Africa. Various global issues will be discussed there. Will be meeting various world leaders during the Summit. https://t.co/Sn4NFUOzXB
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 21, 2025
The Johannesburg G20 summit has grabbed further attention as US President Donald Trump and his entire American delegation has decided to skip the Summit. The striking factor is that not just the Head of the State of the United States is distancing from the G20 Summit, but Trump has decided not to send any representative. Thus, Washington DC has decided to not participate in the G20 summit at any level under the presidency of South Africa.
Trump cites discrimination of White Afrikaners in South Africa
Apparently, the reason cited by the Trump administration for not attending the Johannesburg G20 Summit is due to the alleged killing of the White Afrikaner farmers in South Africa and their lands being seized forcefully. This is a long-standing allegation exclaimed by the US President that White Afrikaners are being ill-treated in South Africa.
Donal Trump alleges that the government of South Africa is involved in calibrated racial targeting and attacks where the white landowners are attacked and their lands are being grabbed at an alarming rate. Trump has asserted public statements regarding the racial discrimination prevailing in South Africa. White Afrikaners are being “slaughtered” and their properties are being seized. Trump further says that the country is completely unsafe for the White Afrikaners and he had also offered refuge in the US to the victims of alleged racial discrimination in South Africa.
On this background, the US President has decided to not send any representation from the US for the Johannesburg G20 summit as a symbol of support and pacification to the White Afrikaners in South Africa.
South Africa refutes the allegations of Trump
Reacting to the racial discrimination and targeting allegation asserted by the US President, South Africa has outrightly rejected the claims. The data released by the South African Police Service asserts that farm-related crimes are not exclusively targeted towards the White Afrikaners. The violent incidents targeted towards grabbing rural properties comprise only a small portion of the entire crime structure of the country. Early this year, out of the six murders took place on the farm fields 5 victims were black Afrikaners and only one victim was white. In fact many African public and civil society members have also rejected the claims of racial discrimination and have expressed that they lead a safe life with no targeted attacks and persecution.
Reacting to the move of the United States, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly criticized the Trump administration. “If you boycott an event or the process, you are the greatest loser because the show will go on”, exclaimed the President of South Africa.
Apprehension persists as US is set to assume G20 presidency
The decision taken by the Trump administration forbids participation in the G20 at all levels and in all forums, beyond the summit level meeting. The cabinet-level officials and other representatives will not attend any workshop, discussion, forums or any session pertaining to the G20. The earlier decision to send Vice-President JD Vance was also scrapped. The message was conveyed to South Africa through official diplomatic channels that the US will be absent from the G20 in its entirety.
This boycott has specifically raised apprehensions as the United States is the next chair of the G20 and is set to assume the leadership. If not the head of the state of the incoming chair nation, at least any top level official would take over the presidency symbolically. With all higher authorities absent from the G20 summit, a representative from the US Embassy in Pretoria will attend the closing session and take over the G20 presidency.
“I don’t want to hand over to an empty chair, but the empty chair will be there”, said the President of South Africa. However, geopolitical analysts opine that the reason cited by Trump to skip the G20 summit is only superficial in nature and the real reason is largely geopolitical in nature. As per the analysts, the increasing inclination of South Africa towards China, Iran had irked the Trump administration. Also, Trump’s repeated crackdown on the BRICS grouping and tariff tussle with various countries including South Africa is the real reason underlying Trump’s rejection of the G20 summit.
Modi-Trump meet derails amid US-India tariff tussle
With US President Donald Trump deciding to not attend the G20 summit, the meeting and bilateral exchange between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President has yet again been thwarted. This is the third consecutive time, where the probable Trump-Modi meet on a global platform has been derailed, which is significant due to the ongoing India-US tariff tussle, intense trade negotiations and the repeated credit claimed by the US President Trump for ending the India-Pakistan conflict, which was outrightly rejected by New Delhi as baseless and irrational.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to skip the Gaza Peace Summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and the ASEAN Summit at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. One of the reasons was to avoid exchanges with the US President as India-US relations were on a downward trajectory. PM Modi not attending the summits was a strategic symbol signifying the fact that India does not have submission to the hegemonic assertions and unbalanced trade deals espoused by the US President.
Meeting with President Trump could have derailed the strategic firmness and sovereign exertions of India with respect to trade, tariff or other geopolitical facts, given Trump’s illogical big media statements and out of the box way of handling foreign policy matters. With Trump himself denouncing from the current G-20 summit, the probability of Modi-Trump meet is yet again distanced, which is indeed a positive diplomatic move for India’s strategic autonomy and firmness, until a balanced and favourable trade deal is reached.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and the President of Argentina are also skipping the G20 summit. On the other hand French President Emmanuel Macron, Britain Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other leaders are attending the summit.
The agenda for the Johannesburg G20
The theme for the current G20 summit is “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability”. With this theme South Africa and other emerging economies of the Global South including India aims to champion the voice of the developing nations. The priorities include championing credible finance for green transition and securing resilience from climate catastrophes. It also aims to foster economic security and reduce debt burden on the low and middle income countries. The summit also aims to voice out the disparities in the global wealth distribution.
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