South Africa will not be bullied, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday in a jab at the United States which said it would boycott the G20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend.

Washington has also demanded that South Africa does not issue the traditional joint leaders' statement after the meeting, where around 40 countries will be represented.

US President Donald Trump, who has clashed with South Africa over its G20 agenda and various international and domestic policies, is skipping the summit amid a wider US retreat from multilateralism that has rattled global order.

"It cannot be that a country's geographical location or income or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to," Ramaphosa told delegates at a curtain-raiser event in a clear reference to Washington.

'No bullying'

There "should be no bullying of one nation by another," he said in an address to a gathering of civil society groups ahead of the November 22-23 summit.

The US embassy confirmed at the weekend it would not attend the summit, saying in a note to South Africa that its G20 priorities "run counter to the US policy views and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency."

It said the United States "opposes issuance of any G20 summit outcome document under the premise of a consensus G20 position, without US agreement."

South Africa, the first African country to host a G20 summit, replied that the United States' absence from the event negated its role.

'Won't be directed by an absentee'

Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said Pretoria would press ahead with a leaders' declaration.

"We will not be told by anyone who is absent that we cannot adopt a declaration or make any decisions at the summit," he said in an address after Ramaphosa had spoken.

South Africa chose "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability" as the theme of its presidency of the G20, which comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union.

G20 members account for 85% of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world’s population.

'Equals'

Its agenda focuses on strengthening disaster resilience, improving debt sustainability for low-income countries, financing a "just energy transition", and harnessing "critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development."

While US government officials were to skip the summit, representatives of US business were well represented at a separate Business 20 (B20) event that wound up in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Addressing their closing event, Ramaphosa repeated: "We need to be sitting at the table as equals … without any bullying the other."

"In the past, most of us in the Global South were colonised, we were not even allowed to be in the room. And we’ve now been arguing that we would like to be in the room," Ramaphosa said.

'Real collaboration'

The head of the US chamber of commerce, Suzanne Clark, thanked South Africa for fostering "real collaboration between G20 nations during a time of rapid change" during its rotating presidency of the group which will be held by the United States in 2026.

"The US chamber of commerce will use our B20 leadership to foster international collaboration," Clark said.

The United States has significant business interests in South Africa with more 600 US companies operating in the country, according to the South African embassy in Washington.

Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on a number of issues since he returned to the White House in January, notably making debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically "killed" in the country. Pretoria denies these claims.

He expelled South Africa's ambassador in March and has imposed 30% trade tariffs, the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa.