Africa’s Richest Country to Boost Continental Trade Ties After U.S. 30% Tariff Hit
South Africa is strategising to tap into alternative markets to mitigate the impact of the United States’ 30% tariffs on its exports.
South Africa is strategising to tap into alternative markets to mitigate the impact of the United States’ 30% tariffs on its exports.
“In the coming months, we will be scaling up our trade missions into new markets in Africa and beyond,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
The government also plans to expand its National Exporter Development Programme, which aims to increase the number of export-ready businesses, according to Bloomberg.
Pretoria had been negotiating for months to avert the tariff hike, proposing to buy U.S. liquefied natural gas and pledging $3.3 billion in investments into American industries. But those overtures fell short.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump slapped a 30% tariff on imports from South Africa, the steepest in sub-Saharan Africa, as part of a broader wave of new levies under his revamped global trade agenda.
South African Trade Minister Parks Tau called the tariff escalation a direct threat to the country’s export-driven sectors, particularly automotive manufacturing, agro-processing, steel, and chemicals.
Last month, Central Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago cautioned that tariffs could endanger over 100,000 jobs in South Africa’s automotive and agricultural industries.
Already burdened with one of the world’s highest unemployment rates and sluggish economic growth, South Africa’s fragile economy now faces an added threat from the newly imposed tariffs.
The United States stands as South Africa’s second-largest bilateral trading partner, trailing only China, with trade between the two nations totalling $8.8 billion last year, according to data from the South African Revenue Service.
According to South African officials, trade negotiations were entangled with political frictions, most notably Washington’s disapproval of South Africa’s affirmative action policies, its land reform agenda, and its decision to bring a genocide case against Israel, a close U.S. ally, before the International Court of Justice.
