South Africa has failed to prevent President Donald Trump from raising tariffs on its goods to 30% — despite an Oval Office visit from President Cyril Ramaphosa and what its diplomats say was their best efforts.
“The decision is a huge blow to South Africa, as the US is its second-biggest trading partner,” the BBC said. South Africa is scrambling to provide aid and support to domestic industries that stand to be affected.
The economic pain may just be starting for South Africa, as it faces the possibility of being kicked out of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade group — or the cancelation of AGOA entirely in Septmeber.
Trump signed an executive order Thursday raising tariffs South Africa and other countries that had failed to reach separate deals with the United States. Some countries suffered punitive tariffs for additional reasons.
The order states that South Africa will pay 30% while neighboring Zimbabwe, which offered to eliminate tariffs on U.S. goods, only faces a 15% tariff, the standard imposed by the White House on other countries.
South Africa may face an additional 10% surcharge due to what Trump has called the “anti-American” policies of the BRICS group of nations. (South Africa has sided with Iran and Hamas and against Israel.)
In the days leading up to the August 1 tariff deadline, South African officials offered excuses, with foreign affairs director-general Zane Dangor claiming the government was making “all the right arguments.”
The problem was that none of these arguments were ones that the U.S. wanted to hear. In particular, South Africa resisted changes to non-tariff barriers to trade, such as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies.
When South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, visited Trump at the White House in May, he offered no specific compromises, but instead came prepared for an argument about “white genocide,” which backfired.
South Africa also failed to replace its ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, who was expelled from the U.S. for trashing Trump. The “special envoy” who was to have replaced him, Mcebisi Jonas, was denied a visa.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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