U.S. Says it Will Use G20 Presidency to Focus on Economic Growth

  • The United States (U.S.) on Monday, December 1, 2025, assumed the 12-month presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies amid a bitter feud with outgoing president South Africa, and Washington said it will focus its agenda on promoting economic growth and prosperity.
  • The U.S. State Department issued a statement outlining its priorities for its presidency, vowing to undertake "much-needed reforms" and "return the G20 to focus on its core mission of driving economic growth and prosperity to produce results." "We will prioritise three core themes: unleashing economic prosperity by limiting regulatory burdens, unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains, and pioneering new technologies and innovations," it said in a statement.
  • Next year's summit will take place in Miami at a golf resort owned by U.S. President Donald Trump, who last week said that he would not invite South Africa. Washington skipped this year's gathering hosted by Pretoria and accused South Africa of weaponising its leadership of the group.
  • South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday dismissed Trump's threat, saying his country remained a "full, active and constructive" member of the G20, and rejected as "blatant misinformation" Trump's repeated claims that South Africa is committing "genocide against Afrikaners" - descendants of Dutch settlers - and confiscating land from white citizens.
  • Washington boycotted this year's G20 leaders' summit from November 22-23 at Trump's direction, following his repeated allegations, widely discredited, that the host country's Black-majority government persecutes its white minority. G20 leaders at the summit, defying Washington's objections, issued a declaration addressing the climate crisis and other global challenges on November 22.
  • That said, South Africa–U.S. relations will remain strained in 2026, making tariff reductions, from the current 30% reciprocal rate, unlikely. However, most key South African exports are already exempt from reciprocal tariffs. As such, economic gains would be minimal. Nevertheless, U.S. political pressure on South Africa will intensify in several ways, including the exclusion from the 2026 G20 summit and its exclusion from any African Growth and Opportunity Act extension2.

________________________________

2AGOA provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the U.S. market for over 1,800 products, in addition to the more than 5,000 products that are eligible for duty-free access under the Generalised System of Preferences program.

(Sources: Reuters, BMI, A Fitch Solutions Company)