Ramaphosa ‘looking forward’ to hosting Trump at critical G20 meeting.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said he expected US president-elect Donald Trump to attend the G20 Summit in South Africa next year and looked forward to constructive engagements with the leader in waiting.

Briefing reporters in parliament on Tuesday, Ramaphosa launched South Africa’s presidency of the G20, which started on 1 December and will run through to November next year. This will culminate in an event where G20 leaders are expected to meet in Johannesburg in November next year.

South Africa takes over the presidency of the G20 from Brazil, after which the US will take over from South Africa.

Ramaphosa said he has been speaking to Trump since he won the US election against vice president Kamala Harris last month and expected to have many official engagements with him.

“When I spoke to president[-elect] Trump, congratulating him, I informed him he will need to come to South Africa. I invited him to come for a state visit as well as when he comes to attend the G20.

“Obviously work will ensue in seeing how best that can be achieved. We do expect him to attend as the US is the next president of the G20. I look forward to handing over the gavel to president[-elect] Trump when he takes over the reins as the G20 leader.”

The return of Trump to the White House, after he served as the 45th US president between 2016 and 2020, has raised concerns about heightened global trade tensions. Trump has indicated he would use tariffs to discourage emerging economies from undermining the US dollar.

Ramaphosa showed no signs of trepidation at potential engagements with Trump on trade, social and geopolitical issues, saying he looked forward to having constructive discussions with the tycoon and statesmen over his favourite pastime, a game of golf.

“If he has time, and he has a very busy schedule, we can go and hit balls at a golf course. We will point him in the right direction at one of our beautiful courses. We might find there is a lot of competition among our golf courses for president[-elect] Trump and possibly myself to play and talk about global interests.”

Ramaphosa stressed South Africa was determined to use the G20 Summit to advance the interests of emerging economies on the world stage in matters of climate change, conflict and trade.

“Across the world, billions of people are affected by underdevelopment, inequality, poverty, hunger and unemployment. The outlook for global economic growth remains subdued, and many economies carry the burden of unsustainable levels of debt.”

He said geopolitical instability, conflict and war were causing further hardship and suffering while technological changes such as the rise of artificial intelligence presented opportunities and risks.

“While the challenges we face are common, their causes and consequences are unevenly distributed across and between countries. Working together with G20 members, and building partnerships across society, South Africa will seek to harness global will and capabilities to confront the challenges.”

At the briefing, Ramaphosa also launched the G20 Summit logo, which features a design resembling a protea, South Africa’s national flower.

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