Rubio's Little G20 Tantrum

Boycotting major international meetings to spite the host country is rarely worth it, and this snub seems particularly silly.

Marco Rubio threw a little tantrum last week:

“South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, & sustainability.’ In other words: DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and climate change,” Rubio said in a post on X. “My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.”

Boycotting major international meetings to spite the host country is rarely worth it, and this snub seems particularly silly. Even if Rubio’s complaints against South Africa were accurate, these would be poor reasons for the U.S. to miss a G20 summit. It is harder to advance American interests when the U.S. is absent from these meetings. Staying away from a meeting because there may be items on the agenda that the U.S. doesn’t like amounts to running from a fight.