As Johannesburg gears up to host this weekend’s G20 summit of rich and developing nations, the United States has once again said that it won’t participate.
On Thursday, the White House responded to comments by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa that Washington had “changed its mind.” Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the US would send a diplomatic delegation to the handover ceremony at the end of the event, but won’t participate in talks.
The handover is meant to recognize that near year’s G20 will be hosted by the US. It’s scheduled to take place at President Donald Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida.
Trump has cited his claims that South Africa is violently persecuting the country’s white Afrikaner minority farmers as the reason for the US boycott – claims that have been widely rejected.
However, President Ramaphosa has insisted that the Summit will issue a joint declaration, despite pressure from Washington not to do so.