G20's Grip Fading? Expert Says It's Stuck in the Past

Is the G20 About to Go the Way of the Dodo? Analyst Says Trump Summit Could Be the Final Nail

Another G20 summit is upon us, this time in Johannesburg. But instead of hopeful chatter about tackling global issues, there's a distinct air of...well, futility. Fyodor Lukyanov, writing for RT.com, pulls no punches: he argues the G20 is rapidly becoming a relic of a bygone era, and a potential 2026 Trump-hosted summit might just be the nail in the coffin.

G20's Grip Fading? Expert Says It's Stuck in the P...

The G20, lest we forget, wasn't born out of some idealistic dream. Back in the late 90s, the Asian financial crisis exposed a glaring weakness: the G7, that old boys' club of Western nations, simply couldn't handle global economic shocks alone. The world was too interconnected. The solution? Bring in the big players from every corner of the globe, giving rising powers a seat at the table and bolstering the West's legitimacy. For a while, it worked. The G20 served as a kind of supranational patch, keeping the existing system afloat.

But, as Lukyanov points out, that was then

But, as Lukyanov points out, that was then. This is now. The world is fractured, trust is at an all-time low, and priorities are diverging faster than ever. And, ironically, at a time when collective action is arguably *most* needed, it’s precisely what’s missing.

The elephant in the room is, of course, the United States. Or rather, the absence of it. Donald Trump's decision to boycott the Johannesburg summit, citing frankly outrageous accusations against South Africa, sends a chilling message. He’s already promised to make the 2026 summit in Florida a spectacle, a "showpiece," he calls it. Knowing Trump, it will be a spectacle, alright – but one designed solely on *his* terms. I can already picture the gold-plated invitations.

And it's not just the US. While China and Russia are sending delegations, their leaders will be absent too. Different reasons, sure, but the optics are undeniable: the G20 simply isn't fulfilling its original purpose.

Lukyanov argues that the crises of the 90s and 2000s unfolded within a relatively stable, Western-dominated system. Rising powers were willing to play along, accepting limited integration in exchange for influence. But that era is over. The "global majority" isn't content with a subordinate role anymore. More crucially, the West, particularly the US, no longer sees value in consensus-based global governance. It’s a hard truth, but one we can no longer ignore. Is this the end of the G20 as we know it? It certainly looks that way.