Donald Trump just dropped a bombshell on U.S. trade policy towards South Africa. UIG is cutting off all aid and slapping a punitive 30% tariff on South African goods sold in the United States. The two final tariffs will go into effect starting August 7, 2023. This announcement follows up on Trump’s false claims of land expropriation and discrimination against the white South African minority. It further foreshadows an embarrassing, ongoing decline in U.S.-South African relations.
The tariffs are another element of Trump’s overall strategy to shield American businesses from the perceived threat of foreign competition. He maintains that these types of steps will strengthen our country’s manufacturing base and provide good paying American jobs to American workers. This announcement could not have come at a better time, as South Africa continues to lean on the U.S. as its second largest trading partner. The new tariffs hand a crushing blow to South Africa. Its automotive, farming and textile industries, that once blossomed with duty-free access to the U.S. market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), are now in deep waters.
This has proven especially damaging because Trump imposes tariffs on South African goods. To this he has added a 15% tariff on products from other African countries, like Lesotho and Zimbabwe. Analysts warn these tariffs could endanger the US-Africa trade pact. They notably cite the disastrous effect this move would have on the Agoa framework, which serves to bolster trade relations between the United States and African countries.
Trump’s strained relationship with Cyril Ramaphosa’s government has been marked by ongoing disputes. Even after Ramaphosa sought to repair relations by sending a delegation of ministers to Abuja for talks in May this year, little has come of it. “I’ve had a lot of problems with South Africa. They have some very bad policies,” Trump stated, highlighting his administration’s grievances against the nation.
The consequences of Trump’s tariffs go well beyond trade, as they now threaten to devastate the economic opportunities for a number of African countries. Lesotho, for example, proudly hosts the only factory in the world that produces Trump golf shirts. This begs compelling questions about what this portends for the local industries.
As opposition to these developments grew, Ramaphosa released a statement clarifying his administration’s intent to further pursue negotiations with the United States. He used the opportunity to announce that South Africa has formally submitted an AGOA framework deal to the U.S. Its goal is to de-escalate, encourage conversations.
Trump has already threatened not to send the new Secretary of State to the G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg. Rather, he might send a surrogate to stand in for him at the event. This is yet another recent reminder of the deepening chasm between the two countries.