An America-Sized Hole at the G20

Hello, everyone. Today at WPR, we’re covering the Syrian interim government’s ongoing struggles to unite the country nearly a year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, and what we talk about when we talk about “the West.”

But first, here’s our take on today’s top story:

South Africa is set to host this weekend’s annual summit of the Group of 20 leading economies. But for the first time since the G20 was established as a leader-level gathering in 2008, the United States will not participate in any of the meetings.

President Donald Trump had initially said Vice President JD Vance would attend the meetings, but earlier this month he changed course and announced his administration would completely boycott the event due to his longstanding, unsubstantiated claims of a “genocide” against South Africa’s white Afrikaner minority.

The feud escalated on Thursday when South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said at a press conference that the U.S. had changed its mind about not attending the conference, and that “boycott politics never work.” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shot back, accusing Ramaphosa of “running his mouth” and clarifying that Washington’s acting ambassador to South Africa, Marc Dillard, would attend only the closing session of the talks, where the U.S. would be recognized as the next rotating president of the G20 and the host of next year’s summit.

However, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson clarified that Ramaphosa “will not be handing over to a junior embassy official.”

The dispute centers not only on attendance at the summit but also on what can be achieved. Because the G20 operates by consensus, the U.S. maintains that the customary joint leaders’ statement cannot be issued without its participation, and that South Africa’s focus on “solidarity, equality and sustainability” amounts to “anti-Americanism.” South Africa has pledged to forge ahead with a consensus declaration, accusing the Trump administration of “coercion by absentia.”