The Group of 20 (G20) is gradually losing its importance as the most influential economic forum of the world. Diplomats believe that the existence of this intergovernmental forum, comprising of 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU), would be in danger in near future due to various reasons. In such a scenario, it remains to be seen how India will strengthen its position in multilateral diplomacy.

The presidents of Russia and China did not attend the 2025 G20 Summit in Johannesburg held on November 22-23, while the US refused to participate in the event because of its diplomatic rift with South Africa, the host nation. US President Donald John Trump announced on November 26, 2025 that he would bar South Africa from participating in the 2026 G20 Summit in Miami, and would also stop all payments and subsidies to the African nation over its treatment of a US representative at the Johannesburg Summit. He made the announcement after South Africa refused to hand over the G20 hosting responsibilities to a senior representative of the US Embassy at the end of the 2025 summit.

On Truth Social, President Trump stated: “Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year.” He added: “South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately.”

On the other hand, South African President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa claimed that his country handed over the G20 hosting responsibilities to a senior official of the US Embassy in the absence of a US delegation. As per tradition, the host nation hands over a symbolic wooden gavel to the nation taking over the G20 Presidency. However, there was no US official in Johannesburg to receive it from the South African President. The US wanted to send a representative from its Embassy. However, South Africa rejected the proposal, saying that it was an insult for President Ramaphosa to hand over the presidency to what it called a junior official.

Incidentally, the relevance of the G20 is believed to have begun to wane in 2022 when the group was unable to issue a joint statement because of disagreements among its members in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, India somehow managed the situation by successfully placing the concerns and priorities of the Global South at the centre of the G20 agenda, leading to concrete outcomes and a more inclusive global governance structure. In 2025, Heads of the three powerful States – Russia, China and the US – did not attend the summit.

Significantly, President Trump recently showed interest in forming a G2 alliance with Beijing. He is also keen to add Russia, and possibly China, to the G7. Hence, the US President has played an active role in preparing the Ukraine peace proposal. These two plans of President Trump would certainly erode the importance of G20.

Meanwhile,

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das