The 2026 G20 presidency explained: host, priorities and calendar

6 min read

The United States holds the G20 presidency in 2026, and it has run the year very differently from the presidencies just before it. It has three priority themes, fewer working groups and a summit at a golf resort in Miami, and South Africa is not taking part. This explainer sets out what the US presidency says its priorities are, how the year is organised, what has been agreed so far and what is disputed. It reflects official sources as of early October 2026, before the leaders' summit in December.

Host, dates and venue

The US took over on 1 December 2025. Its State Department announced: "Effective today, December 1, 2025, the United States has assumed the 2026 Presidency of the Group of 20 (G20)," adding that it would "return the G20 to focusing on its core mission of driving economic growth and prosperity to produce results." The leaders' summit is scheduled for 14 to 15 December 2026 at Trump National Doral Miami, a golf resort in Florida that the official G20 site says "The Trump Organization purchased" in 2012.

Three themes

The US presidency named "three core themes: unleashing economic prosperity by limiting regulatory burdens, unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains, and pioneering new technologies and innovations." The official g20.org site words the third as "pioneering innovations in AI and emerging technologies." Its priorities page promises "practical reforms that support economic expansion while respecting national sovereignty and policy independence," and an energy agenda that "prioritizes energy independence, and resilient supply chains."

Four working groups

Where India, Brazil and South Africa each ran more than a dozen Sherpa Track working groups, the US says "the G20 will use four working groups to achieve progress on our three priority themes":

Trade: the US sees "a global trading order of the future that is based on fair, reciprocal, and balanced trade."
Growth and Deregulation: the Finance Track agenda, covering pro-growth policy and deregulation, global imbalances, debt transparency, digital assets, cross-border payments and financial literacy.
Innovation: aimed at "identifying shared principles that foster sovereign policy frameworks to promote innovation."
Energy Abundance: it invites members to accept "each nation choosing its own energy mix, but all committed to the principles of energy security, abundance, addition, and affordability."

The US site does not list the earlier groups, such as health, education or agriculture, so 2026 has a much slimmer structure than 2023 to 2025. The US Treasury's chair's statement from the Asheville finance meeting, issued on 1 September, welcomed "the successful streamlining of the G20 Finance track's structure and agenda under the U.S. Presidency."

The calendar

Sherpa Meeting I: Washington, DC, 15 to 16 December 2025.
Finance ministers and central bank governors: Washington, DC, 16 April 2026, alongside the IMF and World Bank spring meetings.
Sherpa Meeting II: Washington, DC, 29 to 30 June 2026.
Finance ministers and central bank governors: Asheville, North Carolina, 31 August to 1 September 2026, after a deputies' meeting there.
Innovation ministerial: North Carolina, 1 to 2 September 2026.
Energy Abundance ministerial: Houston, Texas, 14 to 16 September 2026.
Trade ministerial: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 30 September to 1 October 2026.
Sherpa Meeting III: Washington, DC, 1 to 2 October 2026 (listed on the calendar).
Finance ministers and central bank governors: Bangkok, 15 October 2026, alongside the IMF and World Bank annual meetings.
Foreign ministers: Atlanta, Georgia, 30 to 31 October 2026.
Sherpa Meeting IV: Miami, 10 to 12 December 2026.
Leaders' summit: Miami, 14 to 15 December 2026.

What has been agreed so far

Several ministers' meetings have produced texts, and their labels and footnotes give a guide to how much agreement there was. The Asheville finance meeting issued a chair's statement agreed "by all G20 members present except China, which objected to paragraphs 4, 10, 11, and 13." The White House said the Houston energy ministers "reached consensus on four outcomes," covering clean cooking access, permitting and regulatory efficiency, a water reuse initiative and critical minerals, which it describes as voluntary cooperation. The White House described the innovation ministerial's statement as a consensus statement. At the Milwaukee trade meeting, the US presidency said members reached consensus on a statement on the weaponisation of food, but not on one about forced labour, which was issued only by the trade ministers of the United States, Argentina and Mexico. None of these is binding. They are political statements, as G20 texts always are.

Who is taking part

Poland. The State Department says Poland attended the first sherpa meeting "as the only full guest participant of the U.S. host year," and Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote that Poland "will be joining us to assume its rightful place in the G20." The State Department's own term is a guest participant, and no official source we found says G20 membership has changed. The UK government, which hosts in 2027, still describes the G20 as "19 of the world's largest economies and the European Union and the African Union."

Guests. The US presidency lists twelve invited guest countries, including Singapore, Spain, Norway, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, though the guests named at individual meetings vary.

South Africa. This is a disputed decision. President Donald Trump wrote in November 2025 that "South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20." Secretary Rubio wrote that the US would not invite the South African government "to participate in the G20 during our presidency." The US government gave reasons about South Africa's domestic policies and its conduct as the 2025 host, which South Africa rejects. President Cyril Ramaphosa's office replied that "South Africa is a member of the G20 in its own name and right" and that "Its G20 membership is at the behest of all other members." By April 2026, South Africa's finance minister said the US "has not accredited us," so South Africa "will not be part of the G20 for the whole of this year."

The G20 has no charter, so we found no written rule on whether a presidency can leave out a member. That is our reading of the documents, not an official statement. The Johannesburg declaration of 2025 says members take part "on an equal footing in all its events including Summits in accordance with international obligations." How the forum handles this after 2026 is an open question.

What comes next

The United Kingdom takes over after the Miami summit and will host the 2027 summit in Manchester on 27 to 28 November 2027. The Johannesburg declaration already committed members to "meeting again in the United Kingdom in 2027 and in the Republic of Korea in 2028."

Using 2026 in a Model G20

Check which year your conference simulates. If it follows the 2026 agenda, use the three US themes and four working groups. If it uses a broader agenda, such as climate finance or health, your sources will come mostly from 2023 to 2025.
Report disputes neutrally. If South Africa's absence from the 2026 meetings comes up, state each government's position in its own words rather than taking a side as fact.
Read the footnotes. 2026's chair's statements sometimes record who objected and to which paragraphs, as the Asheville footnote does, which is useful evidence for mapping allies and opponents.

What to do next

For how the tracks fit together, read the G20 Sherpa Track and Finance Track explained. For how texts are agreed and why some meetings end with a chair's statement, see how a G20 leaders' declaration is agreed. To prepare your own country's position, use how to write a Model G20 position paper.

Model G20 is One Young India's simulation of the G20 summit for students, held as a three-day residential summit at FLAME University.

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