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As the caipirinhas flowed and samba dancers swayed for VIP guests gathered for the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janiero, the party mood suddenly turned sour.

The summit communique popped up online after the impatient host, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, abruptly shut down behind-the-scenes squabbling among G-20 leaders over language characterizing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends the first day of the G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, on Nov. 18. Photographer: Pablo Porciuncula/AFP/Getty Images

That left a bitter taste, particularly among the US and its allies, at a summit characterized by disorganization and division among the leaders of the world’s largest economies.

What had been billed as a moment for “the West and the Rest” to show unity only served to display how quickly the guardrails are coming off the international rules-based order.

North Koreans are fighting in Europe for the first time. Israel is resisting US efforts to halt fighting with Hezbollah and Hamas. China regularly conducts military exercises surrounding Taiwan. Nuclear war is suddenly a risk amid surging tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

And that’s even before Donald Trump returns to the White House.

The sense of global disorder played out vividly in the traditional “family photo.” US President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni were missing when the picture was taken on the summit’s first day, so Lula called a re-shoot today.

They were in the picture this time, though the fake background in lieu of Rio’s stunning Sugarloaf Mountain in the first shot only reinforced the impression that summit unity was a facade. 

World leaders pose for a family photograph during the G-20 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Nov. 19. Photographer: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

Trump’s looming return hung over the proceedings, amid speculation about what kind of role the US would play in world affairs in his presidency.

Most comfortable were leaders of the Global South. India’s Narendra Modi and China’s Xi Jinping smiled and chatted with ease.

With Trump threatening tariffs on them, though, it felt a bit like the calm before the storm. —Flavia Krause-Jackson

Four years ago, Biden declared “America’s back” and told his fellow world leaders that Trump had been an aberration. On a valedictory visit to Peru and Brazil this week, it was Biden who faded from view — and straight into the Amazon rainforest — as Trump’s return to power comes into sharp relief.

Biden speaks in Manaus, Brazil, on Nov. 17 Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

This was the week Lula was supposed to cement his status as the preeminent leader of the developing world. Instead, the chaotic summit he hosted in Rio highlighted his inability to bridge growing divisions between global superpowers. In a surprise anti-climax, Lula even canceled his end-of-summit press conference two hours after it had been scheduled to start.

Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine reached its 1,000th day with an escalation in the conflict that rattled markets and dominated discussions at the G-20. Ukraine took advantage of newly granted US permission for long-range ATACMS missile strikes into Russia by hitting a military base. Russia announced Putin had signed off on a revised nuclear doctrine that permits a response to a conventional attack that threatens its sovereignty.

Xi’s main objective at the APEC and G-20 summits was to push for a peaceful world with fewer trade barriers so he can focus on reviving China’s economy. Trump and Putin disrupted those plans. In meetings with world leaders over a week in South America, Xi repeatedly sought assurances that nations would uphold international free trade as Trump threatens 60% tariffs on Chinese goods, and he continued to walk a tightrope on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

While Keir Starmer used his biggest international summit since becoming prime minister to say Britain was “looking outward to the world again,” asserting a global role for his government proved more elusive. On one hand, he cast the UK as a staunch defender of the liberal world order. On the other, he passed up a chance to condemn the sentencing of democracy activists in Hong Kong hours after he met with Xi.

Starmer meets with Xi during a bilateral at the G-20 on Nov. 18. Photographer: Stefan Rousseau/WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe

Flattery will only get you so far, don’t show weakness, never grovel, and always ask the difficult questions. That’s the advice to next year’s G-20 host, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, from veteran diplomats familiar with Trump’s approach to the annual summits of world leaders. Ramaphosa, who is relatively inexperienced on the biggest global stage, will need to quickly get up to speed.

Putin plans to visit India for the first time since he ordered the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin said, in a further sign that US-led efforts to isolate him on the world stage are failing.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended his decision not to give Ukraine Taurus long-range missiles to strike at Russia, even as the US authorized Kyiv to use its weapons.

Lula follows up hosting the G-20 by welcoming Xi on a state visit to the nation’s capital, Brasilia, tomorrow, part of his efforts to rely more on Beijing for the investment Brazil needs. After all the summitry, though, Lula will be left to deal with investors who say his room to boost the economy with fiscal stimulus has run out as inflation and interest rates go up.

In one of the more unexpected outcomes of a fractious G-20, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Argentina counterpart Javier Milei appeared to forge a bond of friendship during the summit. The libertarian Milei was a thorn in Lula’s side throughout the proceedings, contesting much of the Brazilian leader’s agenda on tackling poverty and the role of the state. But he and Macron were seen laughing and chatting as they stood together for the summit’s “family photo.”

Milei speaks with Macron as they pose for a group photo at the G-20 on Nov. 18. Photographer: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

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