There will be no official delegates from the US administration at the upcoming G20 summit in South Africa and the climate forum in Brazil. Analysts surveyed by Vedomosti believe that the White House may fear some kind of “anti-Trump appeal” that could be adopted at these meetings. The G20 summit will take place in Johannesburg from November 20 to 24. US President Donald Trump had previously criticized South Africa and stated that the country should not be part of the G20 at all, as “everything is extremely bad” in some regions of the republic. He announced that he would not attend the forum. Initially, it was said that US Vice President JD Vance would represent the US at the event. Later, Trump claimed that “Afrikaners are being killed” in South Africa (descendants of European settlers), and information emerged that Vance would not be at the meeting. Trump has put G20 partners in an awkward position Oleg Barabanov, Program Director of the Valdai Club, suggested that the outcome of the G20 thematic groups’ work could be an “anti-Trump manifesto.” According to the expert, this is disadvantageous for Trump. He could have replaced the American associations previously involved in the G20 with structures loyal to Trump and tasked them with organizing the thematic groups. However, it would be difficult for them to influence the representatives of other powers, who are “largely opposed to Trump.” “It is obvious that in striving to harm Trump, the governments of these states will not miss the chance to broadcast their dissatisfaction with Trump to the whole world through the channels of public formats,” Barabanov noted. In his view, a second, harsher method involves abandoning public thematic formats during the American presidency and focusing on political/economic directions. This could disrupt the established structure of the G20 and anger other “twenties” countries. The US also did not send any prominent representatives to the COP30 climate summit, which is taking place in Brazil from November 10 to 21. At the same time, the media wrote that over a hundred American public figures and politicians not associated with the Trump administration might attend the forum, including Democratic Governor of New Mexico Michelle Lujan Grisham and Democratic Governor of Wisconsin Tony Evers. Vladimir Pavlov, a research fellow at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies, told Vedomosti that Trump is “specifically pressuring South Africa and Brazil.” Pavlov believes that Trump will not withdraw the US from the G20, but will try to restructure the “twenties” to suit “economic initiatives needed by Americans.”
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