The South African government said it does not have urgent plans to respond to the United States due to the customs definitions announced by US President Donald Trump last weekend, and will instead seek to negotiate to reach agreements and exemptions on commercial shares.
Trump imposed 31% customs duties on all imports from South Africa last Wednesday, when he announced tax measures targeting dozens of countries from all over the world.
In statements to the press, South African Trade Minister Parks Tao said, “Saying that we will impose mutual customs definitions without understanding how the United States reaches 31% that will have counterproductive.”
Parks Tao indicated that the average definitions imposed by his country on the United States’ pioneers are within 7.6%.
In the context, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said that the customs duties imposed by Trump cancel the benefits of African countries under the law of growth and opportunity in Africa.
The United States of America is the second largest trading partner for the State of South Africa after China, as the volume of trade exchange between them last year amounted to $ 20.5 billion, from which American exports to Johannesburg formed $ 5.8 billion, while US commodities from South Africa formed $ 14.7 billion.
Searching for an alternative
The Minister of Trade and Foreign Affairs of South Africa said that their country should accelerate efforts to diversify export markets, especially towards Asia and the Middle East.
The two ministers stressed that the government will seek to support the most affected industries from customs duties, including the auto, manufactured food, mineral and agricultural food industry.
South Africa expects that Trump’s decisions will reduce its economic growth by less than 0.1%.
Interest in rapprochement
South Africa – rated from the largest manufacturers in Africa – has previously announced its desire to conclude a bilateral trade agreement with the Trump team.
When its ambassador was expelled from Washington at the end of last month, the government said it hoped to strengthen relations with the United States through the portal of commercial agreements that bring together the two countries, but after President Trump’s repeated attacks on the government of President Cyril Ramafuza, and the imposition of new customs duties has become a difficult thing that may seem difficult.
Since Trump returned to the ruling, the relationship between Washington and Bretoria was strained to the point of expelling the South African ambassador, Ibrahim Rasul, at the end of last month, accusing him of America’s hostility and hate the new president.
