Argentina has become the sole G20 attending member state to reject the Leaders Declaration from the recent summit hosted by South Africa, marking a dramatic diplomatic break under President Javier Milei's administration.

Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, leading the Argentine delegation in Johannesburg, announced the decision based on two principal objections: alleged violations of the G20's consensus rule and substantive disagreements over the declaration's approach to the Middle East conflict.

In the days leading up to the summit in Johannesburg, Milei decided to skip this G20 meeting following US President Donald Trump's lead in declining to attend the November 22-23 gathering.

"Argentina will not sign," Quirno stated during the plenary session, noting the delegation's "deep concern" over geopolitical elements in the draft text. According to Reuters, the declaration touched on climate change and other global crises and was drafted without US input in a move a White House official called "shameful." Buenos Aires argued the final communique was approved "without the consensus of all members of the forum, including Argentina, among others."

The Foreign Ministry emphasised in a written statement that "it is essential to preserve the consensus rule as the basis for the legitimacy of the G20, whose main mandate is the global coordination of actions aimed at financial stability and economic growth."

Regarding the Middle East conflict, Argentina criticised the text as "partial," arguing it reduced the situation "to a single dimension of a specific territory" while overlooking broader regional context and structural causes necessary for "genuine, sustainable and balanced" peace.

The South African presidency confirmed the communique received approval from an "overwhelming majority," though spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told EFE that Argentina's stance was surprising after negotiators had reached an accord. The summit proceeded without several key leaders, including Trump, who boycotted the meeting, along with the leaders of China, Russia, and Mexico.

The move comes on the heels of significant financial assistance from Washington, after the US Treasury extended an extraordinary $20bn swap line to the Central Bank of Argentina — a measure senior US officials framed as essential to stabilising the peso and shoring up the country’s dwindling reserves.

The arrangement, portions of which have already been activated, underscored how strategically valuable Milei’s pro-US realignment has become for the Trump administration. 

The G20 diplomatic rupture reflects Milei's fundamental reorientation of Argentine foreign policy since taking office in December 2023, prioritising alignment with the United States and Israel as his stated "pillars." While the stance demonstrates ideological consistency with the self-styled "anarcho-libertarian" leader's worldview, it risks isolating Argentina from multilateral consensus-building at a time when the country urgently needs international cooperation for economic recovery.