| Bloomberg TV’s Europe correspondent Oliver Crook was in South Africa last week as many of the world’s finance ministers gathered there for talks. One big name was missing: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. That’s notable amid the countdown to Trump’s Aug. 1 tariff deadline. Plus: Read about the threat Elon Musk poses to his own companies, and take a tour of the world’s largest zipper manufacturer. If this email was forwarded to you, click here to sign up. The Group of 20 came into being in 1999, as a forum intended to shore up the biggest developed and developing economies in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. For a couple of decades it worked pretty well, though the meetings sometimes had the feel of a Thanksgiving dinner with relatives you don’t necessarily have a lot in common with. There was some love, but plenty of underlying tensions and simmering feuds among the countries, which account for 85% of global gross domestic product and two-thirds of the world population. As the biggest of the bunch, the US traditionally carved the bird, poured the wine and held forth from its (figurative) position at the head of the table. Even if you didn’t particularly get along with Uncle Sam, he did command respect and tended to keep the conversation on track. Which is why it’s pretty awkward when top American officials don’t bother to attend the party. The G-20 meeting of finance ministers, held last week outside Durban, South Africa, marks the second such event Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has skipped. Secretary of State Marco Rubio didn’t make it to the G-20 foreign minister’s meeting in February. And it’s an open question whether President Donald Trump will show up at the Johannesburg conclave in November.  Trump’s trade wars overshadowed the meeting of the G-20 finance ministers. Photographer: Kyodo News/Getty Images If the gathering of the G-7 leaders in Canada last month felt a little more like the G-6-and-a-half when Trump decamped a day early, then the G-20 in Durban might be closer to G-19-and-a-quarter, with the US Treasury represented by the acting undersecretary for international affairs. The boycott isn’t just of the G-20 framework, but also of the host nation—foreshadowed in a fiery Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in May. And the inclusive, ESG-esque theme of the meeting can’t have gone over too well with the Americans either. The slogan for South Africa’s leadership of the G-20 this year is “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability.” Much of the conversation was overshadowed by Trump’s trade wars, and I spent most of my time asking finance ministers where their various tariff negotiations stand. Almost everyone put on a brave face, but they increasingly had to admit that things aren’t looking too good. As with all fraught family gatherings, much of the intrigue lies in what goes unsaid (at least when the cameras are rolling). A sideline meeting between representatives of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and South Korea focused on trade. One minister told me they detect a softening from the US on negotiations, potentially because of the difficulty the White House has in taking on so many trade wars at once. Although no one wants to say it out loud (for fear of upsetting Trump and derailing negotiations) another minister told me they think that no matter what happens by the Aug. 1 deadline, the matter is unlikely to be permanently closed. They say that over time it might be necessary to build larger coalitions to deal more confrontationally with the administration. It wasn’t just trade, though, casting a Trump-shaped shadow over the proceedings. The president’s tiff with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reached a fever pitch moments before I sat down with Jens Stoltenberg, the Norwegian finance minister and former NATO secretary general. Reports about the Fed chair’s possible firing whipsawed the currency markets (including Norway’s krone), and Stoltenberg said the kerfuffle was adding yet another dimension of risk for global financial stability. The message from everyone I spoke with was clear: If the Americans are no longer interested in an open global trading system, the party will go on without them. And indeed, Trump’s presidency is beginning to alter some of the awkward family dynamic. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, South Africa’s refusal to take sides has irked the European Union. But much of that has been swept under the carpet, and these days you hear much more about potential economic cooperation. At the end of the day, the G-20 still managed a communique—an attempt to breathe life and momentum into a format that feels a little adrift without the US. But more than anything, the meeting on the Indian Ocean felt like a first attempt to answer the question: What happens to the multilateral global order in the age of making America great? Related: EU and US negotiators are heading into another week of intensive trade talks, before 30% tariffs are scheduled to hit on Aug. 1. | 
