President Ramaphosa: South Africa Engages U.S. to Avert Tariffs, Strengthen Trade Ties, and Boost Local Resilience

Honourable Members,   

Like many other countries, South Africa is facing the prospect of significantly higher tariffs on exports to the US.   The Government is therefore in continued engagement with the United States to secure a mutually-beneficial trade and investment deal.   

The Presidency and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition have sent representatives to the United States who are preparing for further formal negotiations with the US government.   

They are meeting a number of stakeholders, including representatives in the administration, legislators, business people and others.   Many other countries are doing the same to secure agreements with the United States government.   

The US is South Africa’s second largest trading partner.   Our economic relations are strong and go back many decades.   Trade between our countries has historically been complementary in nature.   We buy many good and services from the US, such as petroleum, aircraft and parts, medical instruments, soya beans, motor vehicles, poultry and pharmaceuticals.   South Africa exports to the US include minerals, agricultural products, pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles and medical isotopes.   

South Africa is the biggest investor from the African Continent into the US, with 22 of our companies investing in areas like mining, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and the food chain. More than 600 US companies operate in South Africa.   To advance our negotiation position our Government submitted a mutually beneficial trade and investmentpackage as a basis for negotiations with the US.   

This builds on the previous package submitted on 20 May 2025.   In addition to the proposal put to the United States, Cabinet has also endorsed our own country’s Economic Response Package.   This includes measures that we are putting in place to support South African businesses that are affected by the tariffs.   

Government has decided that in response to the US position on tariffs, South Africa should take this as an opportunity to diversify our export markets for increased resilience and facilitate the entry into alternative markets for affected exporters.   

As part of measures to assist companies to absorb the effects of tariffs and facilitate long-term resilience, the Localisation Support Fund has made a commitment to support affected companies.   We have initiated an Export and Competitiveness Support Programme. This will include working capital, plant and equipment facilities to address short to medium term needs across all industries.   

Working with industry, we are accelerating efforts to diversify export markets and enhance competitiveness to mitigate the economic impact of losing preferential trade access.   A crucial part of this work is to make full use of the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area.   

We are also looking at better using the buying power of local consumers, businesses and government to support local producers.   South Africa is responding to the imposition of tariffs by the United States by intensifying its engagement with the US administration on trade and investment.   

We are working to stabilise diplomatic relations and we are introducing a range of measures to make South African companies more resilient and more competitive.