South Africa has no speedy plans to retaliate towards the US over tariffs introduced by Donald Trump this week and can as an alternative search to barter exemptions and quota agreements, senior authorities officers mentioned on Friday.
Trump imposed a 31% tariff on US imports from South Africa on Wednesday when he introduced a ten% baseline tariff on all imports and better focused duties on dozens of nations.
The US is South Africa’s second largest bilateral buying and selling associate after China.
South Africa has mentioned beforehand that it desires to agree a bilateral commerce take care of Trump’s crew. That appears to be a tall order, nevertheless, after the US president’s repeated assaults on South Africa since his return to the White Home in January.
“To say we’ll impose reciprocal tariffs with out first understanding how the US arrived at 31% … can be counterproductive,” commerce minister Parks Tau advised a press convention, saying South Africa’s common tariff on imports was 7.6%.
Overseas affairs minister Ronald Lamola, in the meantime, mentioned Trump’s tariffs successfully nullified the advantages African international locations had loved beneath the African Progress and Alternative Act (Agoa).
The Agoa initiative, which grants qualifying African nations duty-free entry to the US market, is because of expire in September. And Trump’s far-reaching tariffs counsel {that a} renewal of the commerce accord enacted in 2000 is now unlikely.
Situations
The actions by the US underscored the necessity for South Africa to speed up efforts to diversify its export markets, the ministers mentioned, mentioning markets in Asia and the Center East as potential alternatives. Within the meantime, they mentioned the federal government would search to help industries most affected by the tariffs, together with automobile manufacturing, agriculture, processed meals and metals.
The federal government is not going to take away advantages US automobile makers take pleasure in beneath its Automotive Manufacturing Improvement Programme, a manufacturing incentive scheme, Tau mentioned. Nationwide treasury estimates that shedding its Agoa standing may scale back financial progress by lower than 0.1 proportion factors.
Learn: Trump tariffs stoke fears of a $2 300 iPhone
The South African Reserve Financial institution has modelled a number of situations associated to South Africa’s entry to US markets, with the impacts starting from beneath 0.1 proportion factors to 0.7 proportion factors relying on the severity of the commerce limitations and the way badly monetary market sentiment is affected.
Trump’s newest tariffs are along with the 25% imposed on all automobiles and automobile elements imported into the US. That could be a explicit risk to South Africa, which exports over US$2-billion a yr in automobiles and automobile elements to the US. — Nqobile Dludla and Bhargav Acharya, with Sfundo Parakozov and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, (c) 2025 Reuters
Get breaking information from TechCentral on WhatsApp. Join right here.
