The Group of Twenty (G20) nations came of age during the great financial crisis of 2008 to hash out major economic and financial regulatory policies among the world’s largest economies. But with US President Joe Biden making an effort to rebuild alliances with fellow democracies, the G20 appears to have evolved into a G7+13—with a more common agenda among the leading Western countries vis-a-vis the rest of the group. And amid deepening strategic competition between the United States and China, raising distrust and predisposing each side to maneuver for influence, the G20 risks losing its role as the driver for policy cooperation to address serious global problems. Instead it could become a forum to showcase initiatives agreed elsewhere—or worse, a venue for major countries to posture and poke around for political support.
The G20 risks becoming a mini-UN. That’s a bad thing. – Atlantic Council
