The foreign ministers of the world’s biggest economies gather in Atlanta on Friday for a G20 meeting that was supposed to be about economic growth — and will instead be dominated by war.
The two-day meeting, hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio of the State Department on October 30-31, is the final ministerial gathering under America’s G20 presidency before President Donald Trump hosts the leaders’ summit in Miami on December 14-15. Washington says the agenda is threats to freedom of navigation, energy and food security, and supply chains. In practice, diplomats say, that means the war with Iran and its impact on global energy supplies, maritime security and trade.
The divisions are on full display before anyone sits down. The United States has uninvited South Africa, amid tensions over Pretoria’s domestic and foreign policies including its legal action against Israel. Washington has invited Russia — but not Ukraine — and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend, adding tension to a room already split over Russia’s war in Ukraine. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said she would urge partners at the G20 and at a separate EU-Canada summit to strengthen support for Ukraine.
French diplomatic sources said no joint declaration was expected from the Atlanta meeting, reflecting the divisions. The US may instead issue its own summary.
There are sidelines worth watching. India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is attending, and the Quad foreign ministers — India, the US, Japan and Australia — are set to meet on the margins. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan is attending; the UAE is not expected at the ministerial, though it is an invited guest at the December leaders’ meeting.
Why this matters
The G20 was built for moments when the world’s biggest economies need to act together — a financial crisis, a pandemic, a supply shock. Atlanta will test whether it can still do that when its members disagree about the wars causing the shocks. If the best outcome is an American summary rather than a joint statement, that itself is the news: the forum survives, but the consensus that made it powerful is, for now, gone.
