The US will still not attend the G20 in South Africa, contrary to what its president has said, according to Donald Trump’s press secretary
The White House has sharply rebuked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa after he claimed that Washington had reversed its decision and would take part in this weekend’s G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg, despite previously saying it would not.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt referenced a recent New York Times report stating that the US planned to send its acting ambassador in South Africa, Marc Dillard, to the summit this weekend.
Ramaphosa told journalists on Thursday that Pretoria had received notice from Washington concerning its change of mind about participating “in one shape or form or other” in the meeting.
Leavitt dismissed the South African leader’s claims as false, insisting that the US would not take part in official talks at the gathering.
“I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the United States and the president of the United States, and that language is not appreciated by the president or his team,” she said.
The spokeswoman said the acting ambassador would appear at the summit “simply” in connection with the formal handover of the rotating G20 presidency to Washington.
“They are receiving that send-off at the end of the event. They are not there to participate in official talks despite what the South African president is falsely claiming,” Leavitt stated.
Relations between Washington and Pretoria have deteriorated since US President Donald Trump took office in January. Trump has cited South Africa’s alleged genocide against white farmers as his reason for refusing to attend the first G20 leaders’ summit to be hosted on African soil.
Last week, Ramaphosa said Washington’s decision to boycott the gathering was “their loss” and that he does not want to hand over the presidency to “an empty chair.”
On Thursday, he told reporters that a joint declaration will be issued regardless of US absence.
Even without the US, the whole process of the G20 “is moving forward. We will not be bullied. We will not agree to be bullied,” the president declared.
