Published On 21/11/2025
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Last update: 17:45 (Mecca time)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that the United States had indicated a possible change of position and participation in the G20 summit in Johannesburg after a boycott of President Donald Trump’s administration, but the White House called the report “fake news.”
These statements came during a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.
“We have received notification from the United States, which we are still discussing with them, regarding a change in position on participation in one form or another in the summit,” Ramaphosa said.
He added, “This comes a few days before the summit, so we need to engage in such discussions to find out how realistic they are and what they actually mean.”
The administration of US President Donald Trump had announced that it would not attend the first G20 summit held in Africa, accusing the host country – which was under the rule of the white minority under an apartheid regime until 1994 – of discriminating against whites.
On Thursday, a White House official said that an envoy would attend the official handover ceremony of the G20 presidency from South Africa to the United States, but there was no room for Washington to participate in the summit.
He added, “This is fake news. The chargé d’affaires in Pretoria will attend the handover ceremony as a formality, but the United States will not join the G20 discussions.”
However, South African presidential spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said, “The president will not hand over the presidency to a charge d’affaires.”
Trump had rejected South Africa’s agenda for the summit scheduled for November 22 and 23, which focuses on strengthening solidarity and helping developing countries adapt to worsening climate disasters, transition to clean energy, and reduce their exorbitant debt costs.
“I don’t want to hand it over to an empty seat, but the empty seat will be there,” Ramaphosa said last week about handing over the G20 presidency to the United States.