19 March 2025 - The G20 is facing a crisis. This is due to the United States’ newfound hostility to multilateralism of all kinds and particular hostility to the holder of the G20 presidency, South Africa, CISL Africa's Sikho Luthango writes. First published by Reuters.
Since Donald Trump entered the White House in January, the administration has pulled the U.S. from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, to name just a handful of such decisions.
Meanwhile, the U.S. president has consistently sent more junior than usual representatives to G20 meetings. And he and his senior advisor, Elon Musk, have publicly attacked South Africa, pushing unfounded conspiracies about land expropriation and a white genocide. A delicate balancing act will be required for South Africa to navigate these tensions and achieve consensus for key G20 outcomes.
The power of the G20 is that by combining the G7, the BRICS+ group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates); the European Union and the African Union, it brings together representatives from 85% of the global economy. It is run through a troika system where the preceding, current and incoming hosts co-chair G20 meetings.
South Africa is due to hand over the G20 presidency to the U.S. at the end of the year. This means that Brazil, South Africa and the U.S. should in theory work together. Yet it is unlikely that South Africa can count on the U.S to. play a constructive role and respect previous norms.
It would be a smart move for South Africa to further strengthen diplomatic ties with the UK. The EU and UK have shown a willingness to stand apart from U.S. positions in the past few weeks over many issues, particularly the ongoing war in Ukraine.
South Africa has agreed to give Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy a state visit in April. This follows its support for a U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russian aggression. The U.S. voted against the resolution, reversing the position the Biden administration had taken for three years since the war started. This much-awaited move positions South Africa as non-aligned in the conflict and as acting in the interest of peace.
South Africa wants to use the G20 to set ambitious standards for global economic and financial cooperation with Africa. It wants to achieve consensus on issues such as sovereign debt, green industrialisation, climate change, food security, controlling artificial intelligence and sustainable development innovation. All are important for a just energy transition in Africa; all are anathemas to the Trump administration.
Taking the baton from Brazil, South Africa will also prioritise the G20 Initiative on Bioeconomy (GIB) that will inform bioeconomy relevant policymaking and market development.
In the context of Africa’s rising debt servicing obligations, projected at $79 billion in 2025, South Africa wants the restructuring of the global finance architecture to be tackled by a “cost of capital commission”. The commission would bring together independent experts to help address the debt question. South Africa is likely to be supported by Brazil and India, the African Union and BRICS+ , which have placed great importance on high sovereign debt accumulation.
Tackling debt is even more important now that the U.S. has pulled out of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), a flagship global climate financing programme led by several wealthy states to assist South Africa’s transition away from coal. The U.S. withdrawal has compromised about $1.063 billion out of $11.6 billion pledged for the country.
South Africa has a host of aims that will be difficult to achieve without the U.S. onside. These include using the United Nations Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights negotiations to create an international legal framework to address human and environmental violations across corporate supply chains and, according to International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola, to take action to tackle “predatory mining by some countries and corporations”.
The country says it wants to use its mineral resources, such as cobalt, lithium and platinum, to help it move from a coal-powered economy to a greener form of industrialisation. Its call for a G20 framework on green industrialisation and investment will need backing from the U.S. and China, which controls a major portion of the rare and critical minerals processing and manufacturing supply chain.
China, South Africa‘s largest trading partner, has indicated its general support for the country’s G20 priorities. The EU has also reaffirmed the importance of its relationship with SA at the 8th E-SA Summit, which was held on the 13th of March. The European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, reinforced Europe’s commitment to partner with South Africa including as an ally. European leaders pledged a 4.7 billion euro investment package at the summit.
South Africa must do what it can to strengthen bilateral relations with the U.S. But this should not come at the cost of progress. Africa maintains strong relations with other key trading partners. If the Trump administration is determined to move towards isolationism, protectionism and unilateralism, the South Africa government must adjust to this new geopolitical landscape and work out how to navigate it.
First published by Reuters.
