Washington – US President Donald Trump confirmed Friday he would not attend the G20 summit in South Africa later this year, saying he would send Vice President JD Vance instead.
“I won’t be going, JD will be going. Great vice president, and he looks forward to it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, after announcing that the United States will host the 2026 G20 conference in Miami.
Trump will not attend the G20 meeting this year. J.D. Vance will go instead. pic.twitter.com/TOB02eVRp8
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 5, 2025
He said he would host the 2026 G20 summit at his own golf resort in Miami – despite abandoning a similar move in his first term after accusations of corruption.
Billionaire Trump said his Trump National Doral resort and spa was the ideal choice for the gathering in December next year because it is “beautiful” and the Florida weather is nice.
“It’s going to be at Doral,” the 79-year-old told reporters in the Oval Office after announcing that Miami would be the venue for next year’s summit.
“Everybody wants it there because it’s right next to the airport, it’s the best location, it’s beautiful, a beautiful everything.”
But Trump, who has faced repeated accusations that he and his family have enriched themselves during his two presidencies, insisted he would not profit from the event.
“We will not make any money on it. We’re doing a deal where it’s not going to be money, there’s no money in it. I just want it to go well,” Trump said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said that the 2026 G20 summit will be held at his golf club in Miami, Florida.
“As we celebrate our nation’s 250th anniversary next year, the United States will have the honor of hosting … the G20 summit right here in America for the first time in… pic.twitter.com/ToDqYAP70A
— CGTN Europe (@CGTNEurope) September 6, 2025
Another reason for holding the event at Doral, Trump said, was that most hotel rooms in Miami are normally fully booked in December.
“Each country will have its own building. I think it will be really a beautiful thing.”
Trump was born in New York but has made Florida his home for years, with his Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach and the Doral resort nearer the sprawling metropolis of Miami.
He had made similar plans to host the 2020 G7 summit at the Doral resort during his first presidency.
But it caused a firestorm among Trump’s Democratic opponents, who called it “among the most brazen examples yet of the president’s corruption.”
He later ditched the plan with a swipe at “media and Democrat crazed and irrational hostility” — and the summit eventually never took place because of the Covid pandemic.
Trump at the time also abandoned a plan to invite Russia despite its suspension from the G7 because of its annexation of Crimea.
But this time Trump said he would be open to Russian President Vladimir Putin attending the G20 despite Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine – adding that he would also welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I would love them to, if they want to,” Trump said.
He added however that they would be “observers, and I’m not sure if they’d want to come as observers” – despite the fact that both Russia and China are G20 members.
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Picture: Chat GPT
