Trump announces decision to host 2026 G20 Summit at his golf club in Miami

“I think that everybody wants it there because it’s right next to the airport. It’s the best location. It’s beautiful,” Trump added, referring to the golf resort at Doral.

The announcement comes after Trump suggested in July this year that he may not attend the G20 summit in November 2025 due to friction with its host, South Africa, over its capital Pretoria’s policies on land and Israel, Reuters noted.

Instead, Vice President JD Vance will attend this year’s summit in Johannesburg on November 22 and 23. “I won’t be going, JD will be going. Great vice president, and he looks forward to it,” Trump told the reporters.

‘Putin, Xi welcome to attend’

The US President also said he would be open to having Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2026 G20 summit, DW reported, with both Russia and China being crucial G20 members.

“I would love them to, if they want to,” Trump said at the Oval Office. However, he added that Putin and Xi would be “observers, and I’m not sure if they’d want to come as observers,” DW quoted.

Previous plans to host G20 in US

In 2020, Trump backed out from his plan to host the G20 Summit at Doral during his first term in office. At the time, Democrats, Republicans and ethics analysts had raised concerns that such a move would violate the US Constitution by soliciting business from foreign governments, The Washington Post highlighted.

The current move may once again ignite concerns of Trump profiting from his elected office. Reuters quoted a White House official saying that attendees at the event would be billed by Doral at-cost for the services provided.

Before Trump took office in January this year, the State Department had requested proposals from US cities wishing to host the event. They estimated that meetings would take place in early-to-mid October 2026, however, it was not immediately clear whether Doral or next-door Miami were among the cities to make proposals, Reuters noted.