South Africa has announced it will present a “generous” new trade agreement to the United States in an effort to prevent the implementation of a 30 percent tariff on its exports, officials said Tuesday.
Last Friday, the U.S imposed the high tariff on certain South African goods, marking the steepest tariff imposed on any sub-Saharan African country.
This move came despite Pretoria’s attempts to negotiate a deal that would prevent significant job losses.
Although details of the new offer remain undisclosed, South African ministers confirmed that earlier discussions regarding increased imports of U.S poultry, blueberries, and pork have been finalized.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen described the offer, saying:
“When the document is eventually made public, I think you would see it as a very broad, generous and ambitious offer to the United States on trade.”
Trade Minister Parks Tau emphasized the importance of the relationship, noting:
“Our goal is to demonstrate that South African exports do not pose a threat to US industries and that our trade relationship is, in fact, complementary.”
Despite the tariffs, South African exports constitute only 0.25 percent of total U.S imports, which Tau says means they are “therefore not a threat to US production.”
Steenhuisen also revealed that U.S diplomats raised concerns about South Africa’s domestic policies during the talks, which took the South African side by surprise. He said:
“Things like expropriation without compensation, things like some of the race laws in the country, are issues that they regard as barriers now to doing trade with South Africa.”
He added: “I think we’re seeing some form of a new era now where trade and tariffs are being used to deal with other issues, outside of what would generally be trade concerns.”
The U.S remains South Africa’s third-largest trading partner after the European Union and China.
The imposed tariffs threaten to cost South Africa’s economy around 30,000 jobs, according to officials.
