{"id":41836,"date":"2025-08-02T12:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T12:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/41836\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T12:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T12:55:07","slug":"south-africa-facing-prospect-of-job-losses-after-trump-announces-30-per-cent-tariff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/41836\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa facing prospect of job losses after Trump announces 30-per-cent tariff"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

While several African countries saw their planned U.S. tariffs reduced significantly this week, the White House refused to ease its rate for South Africa.Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

After months of intense effort to negotiate a U.S. trade deal, South Africa<\/a> has been left out in the cold, facing a renewed 30-per-cent tariff<\/a> as the Trump administration snubbed its offer of multibillion-dollar concessions.<\/p>\n

The tariff, virtually unchanged from a levy that was announced in April and then suspended, is the latest punishing blow against South Africa from U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>, who has campaigned relentlessly against the country since the beginning of his second term in office this year.<\/p>\n

The tariff was among the highest to be imposed on any U.S. trading partner in the latest round of White House announcements<\/a> on Thursday night. According to South Africa\u2019s central bank, it could trigger the loss of 100,000 jobs, a potentially disastrous setback for an already fragile economy.<\/p>\n

For months, Mr. Trump has falsely accused South Africa<\/a> of seizing farmland and perpetrating a \u201cgenocide\u201d against its white minority. Earlier this week, he complained again of \u201cvery bad policies\u201d in the country, revealing that he might boycott the November G20 summit in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

G20 finance chiefs meet under tariff cloud in South Africa<\/a><\/p>\n

While several African countries saw their planned U.S. tariffs reduced significantly in this week\u2019s announcement, the White House refused to ease its rate for South Africa, which had been set at 31 per cent in April.<\/p>\n

In their talks since then, South Africa has offered billions of dollars in trade concessions. It proposed that its businesses would invest US$3.3-billion in the U.S. mining industry and other sectors, and it offered to import US$12-billion in liquefied natural gas over a 10-year period.<\/p>\n

But after submitting the offer, the country failed to obtain even a reply from the Trump administration. It sought an extension of the Aug. 1 deadline, but did not get one.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe engaged with the U.S. trade representative\u2019s office and they\u2019re unable to give us a firm indication as to what it is that we need to do now to get to the point of a decision,\u201d Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau told the national broadcaster SABC on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey suggested that maybe we present a revised offer,\u201d Mr. Tau said.<\/p>\n

While still hoping to revive the negotiations before the tariff takes effect on Aug. 7, the South African government is meanwhile scrambling to provide help to its exporters. Key industries such as auto manufacturing and citrus farming are expected to be badly hit.<\/p>\n

President Cyril Ramaphosa said he noted the U.S. tariff announcement \u201cwith concern.\u201d In a statement on Friday, he pledged to pursue \u201call diplomatic efforts\u201d to reach a trade deal, while also promising an intensified effort to diversify South Africa\u2019s trade markets. China, already the country\u2019s biggest trading partner, could be a beneficiary of the strategy.<\/p>\n

The 30-per-cent tariff is highly unequal, since the average tariff on U.S. goods entering South Africa is just 7.6 per cent, according to Mr. Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n

His trade minister, Mr. Tau, promised an urgent set of aid measures for South African businesses, including an export support desk and possible tax incentives. \u201cThis tariff hike poses a direct threat to our export capacity,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Beneath the bluster, the U.S. is losing the trade war<\/a><\/p>\n

The Democratic Alliance, the second-biggest party in South Africa\u2019s parliament and a member of the country\u2019s governing coalition, said the announcement of the 30-per-cent tariff is \u201ca devastating outcome for South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new tariff is just one of the blows that South Africa has suffered at Mr. Trump\u2019s hands this year. He has also terminated all U.S. foreign aid to the country and threatened to impose an additional 10-per-cent tariff on South Africa and other members of the BRICS partnership, which was originally formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and has since expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. His previously announced 25-per-cent tariff on automobiles has severely damaged South Africa\u2019s car exports to the United States.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Africa, many countries saw a reduction in their U.S. tariffs this week, but others are still left with significant rates. Algeria and Libya were hit with 30-per-cent levies, Tunisia is facing a 25-per-cent rate, and many others were given 15-per-cent tariffs.<\/p>\n

Lesotho, the small mountainous kingdom that was inexplicably hit with a 50-per-cent tariff in April, saw its rate reduced to 15-per-cent on Thursday. But it might be too late to undo the damage, since some textile factories there have already laid off thousands of workers. The factories had been beneficiaries of a U.S.-Africa free-trade agreement that now seems dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: While several African countries saw their planned U.S. tariffs reduced significantly this week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-41836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}