SOUTH AFRICA IN TOUGH TARIFF TALKS WITH U.S. — PRESIDENT
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BY OWOLABI OLUWADARA
South Africa will utilize the week-long postponement of the United States’ implementation of 30-percent duties to negotiate vigorously in order to avert the penalty and preserve employment, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated on Friday.
South Africa is one of nearly 70 nations confronted with President Donald Trump’s recent tariffs on exports that were scheduled to take effect on Friday but were deferred at the last moment until August 7.
The United States ranks as South Africa’s second-largest trade associate following China, and the governor of the central bank, Lesetja Kganyago, has projected that the new tariffs may result in an economic loss of approximately 100,000 positions.
“Within the existing opportunity, we are optimistic about discovering a pathway to resolve this issue,” Ramaphosa informed reporters. “Consequently, intensive discussions are currently in progress,” he stated.
“Our responsibility is to engage in negotiations with the United States with utmost vigor and determination,” he remarked. “Our primary aim is, indeed, to preserve employment. ”
South Africa’s agricultural and automotive industries will be disproportionately affected by the imposition of 30-percent tariffs, which would exacerbate the already high unemployment rate exceeding 30 percent in the continent’s most industrialized nation.
In addition to negotiations with Washington, Pretoria seeks to enhance other export markets “as it is excessively risky to concentrate solely on one,” Ramaphosa commented.
South Africa’s proposal to the United States encompasses the importation of its liquefied natural gas and certain American agricultural goods, the trade ministry announced this week.
South African companies have also pledged to invest in US mining and metals-recycling sectors, as well as to explore joint ventures in critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, and agricultural machinery, it noted.
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