View / Trump’s call to miss Africa’s G20 only boosts China’s influence

After then-President Joe Biden declared the US was “all in” on Africa in December 2022, calls grew for him to visit the continent. He eventually made it to Angola, and briefly Cabo Verde, in December 2024 but by then, it was widely seen as the too-late trip of a lame-duck leader as the world braced for Donald Trump’s return.

Few have been calling for Trump to visit sub-Saharan Africa, even with a clear opportunity to attend this month’s G20 summit in South Africa. Very early signals from the White House suggested he wouldn’t go himself, but many assumed the vice president or secretary of state would attend instead.

Over the weekend, Trump announced that no US official would participate, calling it “disgraceful” that the G20 was being held in South Africa, the first African nation to host the summit. The decision followed his tense Oval Office meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa in May and is seen as a missed chance for Washington, especially as officials fret over African nations deepening ties with China.

Witney Schneidman, a former US deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa, called the move “unfortunate,” saying US participation could have bolstered G20 plans for debt relief in emerging nations. Trump justified the snub by reviving unsubstantiated claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa. But Benjamin Mossberg of advisory firm Field Focus argued Trump’s “true source of discontent” lies elsewhere: South Africa’s $8.5 billion trade deficit with the US, its support for Palestine, and its close ties to BRICS.

Even setting aside the drama of Trump’s social-media diplomacy, skipping the G20 summit in South Africa altogether further undermines 15 years of US efforts to counter China’s growing influence in Africa. That’s the rationale behind backing multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects like the Lobito Corridor, linking DR Congo and Zambia to Angola. And it’s not just China in play, rising middle powers such as Turkey, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates are also expanding their reach across the continent, from major construction projects to geopolitical machinations.