South Africa's ambitious goals for its G20 presidency, focusing on issues vital to developing nations like cheaper borrowing and climate financing, face challenges due to the US President's absence and escalating tensions between the two countries.

• The United States is not sending representatives to the G20 summit in South Africa due to claims of "white genocide," a widely discredited assertion by Donald Trump.
• Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana stated South Africa would attend future G20 meetings, asserting, "We are members of the G20, we’re not an invited country."
• Other notable absences include China's Xi Jinping (sending Premier Li Qiang), Russia's Vladimir Putin, Mexico's Claudia Sheinbaum, and Argentina's Javier Milei, though most are sending senior delegations.
• Professor Richard Calland suggests the US's absence might create "more space for real consensus" and empower other nations to push for reforms.