The United States used Thursday’s Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meeting to attack the forum, accusing it of drifting from its economic mission towards social issues and dashing South Africa’s hopes that US President Donald Trump would attend its annual summit in November.
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Rather than embracing the Johannesburg gathering – the first on African soil since the G20’s founding in 1999 – Washington dismissed it as a distraction, saying its focus is on 2026, when it will host the forum and drive it “back to basics”.
Allison Hooker, under secretary of state for political affairs, stood in for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who pointedly skipped the gathering on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Hooker delivered one of the sharpest US critiques of the group in years, accusing the G20, which also includes China and India, of losing its way by focusing on diversity and gender initiatives rather than structural economic reform, the same areas the Trump administration has rolled back domestically.
“Unfortunately, in recent years, the G20 has drifted too often. Its agenda has expanded well beyond its core remit,” she said, accusing the forum of becoming “entangled in debates over every political wedge issue of the day”, from “gender-responsive budgeting” to “nation-building” and “pandemic surveillance”.
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Trump ambushes South Africa’s Ramaphosa with false ‘white genocide’ claims
Trump ambushes South Africa’s Ramaphosa with false ‘white genocide’ claims
The US will not “spend hours debating out of touch social initiatives disconnected from growth and stability. Instead, we will concentrate on priorities that directly strengthen our economies and benefit our citizens”, Hooker declared.