Tru_p Skips Global COP Summits
How some of the world looks at the United States and its leadership . . .
“Trump says US to skip G20 summit in South Africa,” Nikkei Asia. And the reasoning?
“No U.S. government official would attend the Group of 20 summit in South Africa later this month, because of what he said were “human rights abuses” taking place in the country.
“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa. Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated.” Trump said in a Truth Social post.”
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“G20 summit opens in South Africa without Trump,” Bangkok Post
JOHANNESBURG — A US-European rift over the future of Ukraine is set to overshadow a Group of 20 (G20) summit starting in South Africa on Saturday further marked by Donald Trump’s pointed absence.
The Johannesburg gathering is being attended by a host of world leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
But Trump is boycotting, with his government saying South Africa’s priorities — notably boosting global cooperation on trade and climate action — run counter to US policy.
The US president nevertheless loomed large at the event, the first summit of the group of major economies to be held in Africa, after producing a surprise unilateral US plan to end the war in Ukraine largely in line with Russia’s goals.
Following an urgent call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer stressed that any such plan needed the “joint support and consensus of European partners and North American Treaty Organisation (Nato) allies”.
On Saturday, European leaders are to meet on the sidelines of the summit to make it clear “that there should be nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine”, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said.
She said a follow-up meeting would be held at an EU-Africa Union summit in Angola on Monday and Tuesday.
Trump has warned Ukraine it has a limited window to accept his administration’s 28-point plan, telling Fox News Radio that “Thursday is, we think, an appropriate time”.
Climate impasse
Another issue dogging the G20 summit was a deadlock at COP30 climate negotiations taking place in Brazil.
Friday was meant to be the last day of those talks, which had gone on for nearly two weeks. But they threatened to drag on because petro-states were accused of resisting any reference to a fossil fuel phaseout in the final text.
Despite the headwinds, host South Africa was projecting optimism that it would get backing for its G20 aims to reduce economic inequalities, shrink debt for low-income countries, secure help for clean-energy transitions and establish a critical minerals pact.
“As South Africa, we are hoping that we will have the leaders’ declaration adopted, which will set a new and continuing agenda for the world, particularly the G20,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said late Friday.
Political negotiators from the participating countries finalised on Friday a final draft joint text for the leaders to agree on, sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP). They were not authorised to divulge the draft’s contents.
It was uncertain the document would be a traditional summit statement, given the US boycott and a warning from Washington that no declaration in the name of the G20 should be issued.
Ramaphosa, who has bristled at the US absence and the Trump government’s unfounded allegations of a “white genocide” in South Africa, has been joined by other leaders in stressing that the G20 was an important platform for multilateral cooperation.
“Multilateralism is our best, maybe our only defence against disruption, violence and chaos. And South Africa put multilateralism to work,” Antonio Costa, European Council president, told a pre-summit press conference.
The US boycott echoes Trump’s decision not to send an official delegation to the COP30.
Washington has said it would send its charge d’affaires from its embassy at the end of the Johannesburg meeting only for a handover ceremony, as the United States will host next year’s G20 summit at a golf club owned by Trump in Florida.
The G20 is a grouping of 19 countries plus the European Union (EU) and the African Union. It represents 85% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and around two-thirds of the world’s population.
Bangkock Post, 22 Nov 2025
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Trump administration skips COP30 climate summit, leaving California’s Newsom to hurl criticism from Brazil, CBS News. No reasoning given.
“The absence of the leaders from the world’s three largest greenhouse gas emitters — China, the United States and India — cast a shadow over the summit as it kicked off.”
“Boos, blowups and last-minute pause as a chaotic COP30 closes out,” Bangkok Post
BELéM (BRAZIL) – Jabs about greedy children, boos for the Vatican, and a suspension of proceedings lasting more than an hour: the COP30 finale unfolded with the same chaotic energy that defined the summit, exposing the rifts that came close to derailing a deal.
Andre Correa do Lago, the dapper Brazilian diplomat who presided over the two-week affair in Belem, opened the final plenary hours late after nations worked through the night to find a text they could all live with.
Bleary-eyed delegates took their seats, eager to see the marathon talks finally come to an end.
The summit in this rough-around-the-edges Amazonian city had already been interrupted twice by Indigenous protesters last week — once when they broke in, another time when they blocked delegates from entering — before a fierce blaze on Thursday triggered a panicked evacuation.
A round of cheers broke out when Correa do Lago brought down his gavel and announced the adoption of the “Mutirao” text — a Portuguese word of Indigenous origin meaning “collective action” that was also the summit’s slogan.
Early in the session, a representative from the Holy See earned loud boos from NGOs after taking the mic to read out the Vatican’s definition of gender along strict biological lines — a side story at this COP after several governments, from Iran to Argentina, sought to clarify their positions in the gender and climate action plan.
But the drama did not end there.
After a COP defined by a bitter struggle between dozens of nations including the European Union pushing for a “roadmap” to transition away from fossil fuels, and oil producers and emerging economies firmly resisting it, the session saw an unusual procedural clash.
Daniela Duran of Colombia declared that her country had raised a point of order in a side text that was gavelled through, and was now formally objecting.
Rather than brush her aside, Correa do Lago suspended the talks — an uncommon move that underscored Brazil’s determination to show it was handling concerns seriously.
Observers suggested the pause likely reflected Colombia’s deep frustration: the country had been at the forefront of efforts to include a “roadmap,” and was displeased with how the talks concluded.
Diplomats huddled as the suspension dragged on for more than an hour before the plenary finally resumed.
“As many of you, I have not slept, and probably this has not helped, as well as my advanced age,” said Correa do Lago, in his mid-sixties, apologising as he blamed an honest mistake for missing Colombia’s point of order.
Still, Russia — aligned with Brazil in the BASIC coalition — chose to voice its displeasure, objecting to the objections.
“Refrain from behaving like children who want to get your hands on all the sweets!” scolded Russia’s Sergei Kononuchenko, speaking in Spanish as he accused Colombia and others of trying to “stuff the sweets down your throat until you make yourself sick,” prompting a sharp rebuke from Argentina.
Infrastructure woes had plagued the summit from the start — leaking ceilings, broken air conditioners, toilets running out of water and more.
In a fitting coda, a torrential downpour in the final session — “the wonderful noise of an Amazon rain”, in Correa do Lago’s words — left parts of the carpet soaked.
Bangkock Post, 23 Nov 2025.