With the United States’ top diplomat boycotting, foreign ministers from some of the world’s largest economies rallied together at a Group of 20 meeting in Johannesburg on Thursday and sought to push back against what they saw as President Trump’s attempt to upend the global order.
During the meeting, some of the United States’ once closest allies worked to hold the line against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and firm up commitments to fight climate change, issues for which the Trump administration has recently reversed America’s course.
Mr. Trump has expressed support for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia’s war effort, and this week called the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a dictator.
“When I heard this, I was like, ‘Oh, he must be mixing the two,’” said Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat. “Putin is the dictator.”
Sergey V. Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, was in attendance at the meeting and pressed his country’s case against Kyiv, according to Ms. Kallas and other diplomats. Ms. Kallas castigated Mr. Lavrov and Russia, accusing the country of “brutally attacking” Ukraine and saying that Moscow did not want peace.
Although the Trump administration appears to be drifting toward Moscow, European countries needed to remain united in their opposition to Russia, she said, and act as a counterweight to Washington’s unpredictable policy decisions.
“As a European Union, we see that a lot of partners are turning to us because we are the reliable and the predictable partner,” she said. “And so that has value in these current turbulent times.”
“For us right now, it’s more important to focus on what the Europeans do, not so much what the Americans say,” she added. “Because, of course, today we go to sleep here and then we wake up to some new statements.”
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he was boycotting this week’s Group of 20 meeting, accusing the host, South Africa, of “doing very bad things.”
Mr. Rubio said the country was using its hosting duties to promote diversity and climate change by choosing “solidarity, equality and sustainability” as the theme of this year’s summit.
Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, defended South Africa’s ambitions, saying in a brief interview on Thursday that the theme was agreed upon by the entire group.
“The very founding of the G20 was aimed at coordinating the macroeconomic policies of different countries,” he said. “Under the current circumstances, it is particularly important to respond to the needs of developing countries.”
This is the first time an African nation is hosting the summit, which consists of many meetings throughout the year. In addressing the meeting on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa doubled down on his effort to focus on the needs of African nations — and those of developing countries more broadly.
He emphasized that wealthy nations are among the biggest polluters and urged them to provide more funding for climate change mitigation in Africa. He also called for help with debt relief for African nations and for better terms on loans.
“We’ve often been a continent that has been relegated to the back,” Mr. Ramaphosa said during a news conference. “The G20 gives us as Africans the moment to put our issues on the global agenda.”
Mr. Ramaphosa found himself in the awkward position of having to talk with restraint about the United States, even though Mr. Trump recently froze all U.S. funding to South Africa and signed an executive order attacking South African law.
The executive order accuses the South African government of discriminating against members of the country’s white Afrikaner minority and offers them refugee status to come to the United States.
South African officials have responded angrily to the order, saying it is based on misinformation. Yet Mr. Ramaphosa said on Thursday that he believed the two nations would sort out their differences.
“The secretary of state not attending is, in the end, not a train smash because the United States is still represented here,” he said, referring to the U.S. delegation at the meeting. “We may not agree on everything, but we always find a way of relating to each other.”
