With global cooperation appearing to be on the wane, a number of leading finance ministers decided against attending the latest G20 summit in South Africa.
The no-shows were seen as an indication of the body’s declining relevance, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Amongst top officials who called time on the Cape Town-hosted talks – particularly significant, because it was the first G20 meeting to be staged on the African continent – were those from the United States, China, Japan, India, Brazil and Mexico.
Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State said he wouldn’t travel to South Africa for a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting and “waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.” Soon afterwards, the US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, also said he would be staying in Washington and giving the Summit a miss.
It was reported that Japan’s finance minister, Katsunobu Kato, was more focussed on budget talks in Tokyo and the EU’s economics commissioner, Valdis Dombrovskis, remained in Brussels.
“The G20 has struggled for relevance in recent years, as the rivalry between the US and China deepens and members split over the response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” the FT wrote.
The paper reported that “the poor turnout” had led to further uncertainty over global co-operation mechanisms, driven by US President Donald Trump’s position, which questioned “key aspects of the postwar international order.”
The absence of Bessent and Rubio was linked to a strong attack on South Africa by Trump. Citing a recent land expropriation law, the President was critical of the country for “confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly.”
“Serious threat to global growth and security”
Despite describing the G20 as being “obviously in a very weakened state”, Mark Sobel, the US chair of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum and a former US Treasury official, called Bessent’s decision to stay away “a big mistake.”
But Lesetja Kganyago, head of the South African Reserve Bank, who chaired a G20 meeting of central bankers, insisted that attendees from all member countries would still be at the meetings. These included US Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell, Christine Lagarde of the European Central Bank and UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
It was only 15 years ago that the G20 had played a key coordinating role in shaping the response to the global financial crisis – in stark contrast to its now waning influence, the FT commented.
Meanwhile, as the meetings in Cape Town got underway, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa warned that the erosion of multilateralism presented “a serious threat to global growth and stability.”
He stated: “Multilateral co-operation is our only hope of overcoming unprecedented challenges.” It was vital that the G20 now built a consensus as to how the global economy could be made more resilient.
The paper also reported that an earlier meeting in Cape Town of the B20 – the G20’s business arm – the conspicuous US absence had been a talking point.
Even so, Cas Coovadia, the former head of South Africa’s largest business chamber, Business Unity South Africa, stressed that US business commitment was still strong – despite any political differences between nations. “We have been assured by our counterparts in the US, the US Chamber of Commerce, that the commitment of American businesses to the B20 remains,” he said.
And Nonkululeko Nyembezi, chair of South Africa’s largest bank, Standard Bank, went further. “We will still be doing business with each other long after the Trump administration has departed,” he said.
The paper also reported that it wasn’t clear whether Trump would be present at the meeting of G20 nation leaders, scheduled in South Africa this November.
Top finance ministers snub G20 as global co-operation comes under strain
