Hours before the approval of the final G20 declaration, Argentine President Javier Milei rested on his The montage mocks the coldness with which Lula da Silva, President of Brazil and host of the G20 leadership, received Milei on Monday. The video ends with a warm embrace between the Argentine president and Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right former president of Brazil. Milei’s provocation was an isolated move in a direction where Argentina was opting for pragmatism. If at the start of the summit the Brazilian delegation feared a total boycott of the final declaration by Argentina, the passage of hours revealed a low-tension Javier Milei who bowed to a real politics aimed at obtaining economic resources.
Milei’s speeches had the expected incendiary tone. During the inaugural session, Milei called it a mistake to try to solve hunger and poverty “with greater state intervention,” in a neoliberal speech that only the Argentine delegation applauded. In the session Global governance reform, “the lion” Milei became even more distraught: “If it’s a question of restricting freedom of opinion, don’t count on us. If it means infringing on people’s property rights through taxes and regulations, don’t count us out. If it comes to inventing privileges based on gender, race, class or any minority, don’t count on us. »
However, Argentina’s reluctant membership in the Alliance against Hunger and Poverty launched by Brazil was a sign of more moderate diplomatic moves than expected. Under his leadership, Argentina concluded an agreement with Brazil for the export of gas. Javier Milei met Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank, on Monday. Tuesday, with Kristalina Georgieva, president of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an institution from which she expects a loan of one million dollars. The meeting with Xi Jinping, President of China, was also marked by the need for financing for Argentina. The only bilateral meeting planned in Argentina, more out of ideological affinity than economic interest, took place with Narendra Modi, the far-right Indian prime minister. Dependence on Chinese capital and the mediation of French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Buenos Aires last weekend to calm Milei’s mood, have favored Argentine moderation.
The loneliness of Javier Milei was confirmed by the photo that Claudia Sheinbaum, president of Mexico, distributed with Lula, Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, and Gabriel Boric, president of Chile, to stage “United Latin America”. “Milei will be a footnote in Rio’s leadership,” a Brazilian diplomat told the newspaper. O Globe, ironically about the footnotes that Argentina forced to include in the final declaration to distance itself from certain points.
A new world order
The curator São Paulo Stadium, Usually critical of the Lula government, he praised the role of Brazilian diplomacy in “a world order that is melting”. As the world prepares for America first of Donald Trump’s new government, Brazil managed to include for the first time in the G20 the need to reform institutions. international. The final document calls for the inclusion of more members in the UN Security Council and specifically requests seats for Latin America and Africa, as well as more space for countries in the Asia-Pacific region. “The challenges currently facing the global community can only be overcome through multilateral solutions,” the statement said. The shadow of Donald Trump, who despises international organizations and multilateral politics, was present in the negotiations. Hours before the statement was released, Javier Milei issued an official statement to inform that he disagreed with some points of the statement, arguing that global governance institutions violated national sovereignty.
The choice of the Museum of Modern Art (MAM) in Rio de Janeiro as the location of the dome is no coincidence. The iconic building was the scene of the disruptive tropicalist movement of the sixties. Visual artists like Helio Oiticica or musicians like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil proclaimed a tropical truth that dynamited European cultural canons. Tropicalism was based on the anthropophagic manifesto of 1928, which sought “a new perspective” and “a new scale” to disrupt “the urban, the suburban, the frontier and the continental.” “In 2022, Indonesia chaired the G20. Last year, India. This year, it’s Brazil. Next year, South Africa. We will end four consecutive years with Southern presidencies. The legacy for the world will be very visible,” he assures. eldiario.es an official Brazilian government source who prefers to remain anonymous.
The G20 declaration, although a minimum agreement, was considered by Brazilian diplomacy as a triumph for the Global South. He highlights “the human suffering and negative impacts of the war in Ukraine”, but without mentioning Russia. On the other hand, he calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and recognizes the “right of the Palestinians to self-determination” and to their own state. On the other hand, the presence of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the meeting and the affinity shown with progressive countries in the region strengthened the influence of the global South space.
The large caravan of Chinese immigrants from all over Brazil to welcome President Ji Xiping and the numerous Chinese flags visible around the MAM served as a metaphor for the power of the Asian giant. Lula and Xi Jinping had dinner together Monday evening. The bilateral meeting, which aroused reluctance within the American delegation, constituted the preamble to the Chinese president’s official visit to Brazil. After the G20, Jinping will visit Brasilia to strengthen relations between the two countries. Since Lula first visited China in 2004, the total volume of trade between the two countries has increased sixteen-fold. In 2022, it will reach 150 billion dollars. The fact that the Chinese electric vehicle brand BYD has bought the American Ford factory in the state of Bahia, closed in 2021, symbolizes the emergence of a new order in which the assembly line Fordist based on fossil fuels is collapsing.
Environmental legacy and taxes on millionaires
The final G20 declaration included one of the main proposals of Fernando Haddad, Brazilian Minister of Economy: the commitment to increase taxes on millionaires. After months of debate and numerous civil society campaigns, Brazil managed to include an explicit mention in this regard: “With full respect for fiscal sovereignty, we will seek to engage in a cooperative manner to ensure that individuals with a very high net worth are effectively taxed. »
Measures against global warming are also envisaged in the declaration. The text reiterates the emissions reduction targets of the 2015 Paris Agreement, highlights the need to triple renewable energy production before 2030, supports the bioeconomy and defends innovative mechanisms such as the Fundo Florestas Tropicais Para Semper proposal ( TFFF), presented. by Brazil during the dome. The fund aims to raise $125 billion in international funding for the conservation of one billion hectares of tropical forests worldwide.
However, the environmental surprise did not come in the final declaration, but rather in Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Faced with the imminent return of Donald Trump’s climate denial, Sheinbaum proposed creating a fund to allocate 1% of military spending by G20 countries to carry out the largest reforestation program in history. “This would mean releasing around $24 billion per year to support 6 million tree planters who would reforest 15 million hectares (…) We would thus contribute to mitigating global warming and restoring the social fabric by helping communities to get out of poverty”, the president defended himself in a working session Fight against hunger and poverty. After presenting the program Sow life implemented by the Mexican government, Sheinbaum weaved an idea that connects the environment, the fight against hunger and peace: “The proposal is to stop sowing war, let’s sow peace and sow life. »
The G20 ball is now in South Africa’s court. Lula handed over to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Donald Trump’s return to power complicates the directions of the G20 in 2025. Trump’s declared anti-globalism and anti-environmentalism will make it difficult to find consensus. As if that were not enough, in 2026 the United States assumes the presidency of the group. While waiting for Trump, Cyril Ramaphosa has already guaranteed that he will build his presidency on what Brazil has done, including the reply from the G20 parallel social forum: “It was a very good and solid basis and we hope to continue the work accomplished.”
