South Africa has downplayed the absence of US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent at a meeting of G20 finance chiefs, saying it believed the world’s biggest economy is still “committed” to the grouping as the gathering starts in Durban.

South Africa urged G20 countries to show global and cooperative leadership to tackle challenges including rising trade barriers, as the club's finance chiefs met on Thursday under the shadow of President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

The first group of white South Afrikaners granted refugee status by President Donald Trump arrived in America in May after Trump declared South Africa’s minority group was victims of a “genocide.

Tensions over U.S. tariff threats have dominated the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Durban, South Africa. As finance chiefs gathered to discuss global economic cooperation, President Donald Trump's new tariff plans created concern about further trade disruption and global fragmentation.

Group of 20 finance officials meet in South Africa from Thursday amid trade tensions, a global economic slowdown and Washington's threat to withdraw from multilateral organisations. President Cyril Ramaphosa has sought to leverage Africa's first G20 presidency to promote an African agenda,

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has opposed what he calls the "unilateral" higher trade tariffs imposed on his country by the US. US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would subject imports from South Africa to a new 30% tariff from 1 August.

Trump sent a letter to Ramaphosa on Monday, July 7, informing him that BRICS nation South Africa would face a 30 percent reciprocal tariff from August 1, 2025, to reflect the trade barriers he said the U.S. faces. Trump sent similar letters to 13 other countries.

South Africa's main coalition partners are embroiled in a spat over how to respond to looming tariffs from a hostile Trump administration, after the smaller party said the president's aide was denied a U.