Daily Maverick
Dailymaverick logo

Maverick News

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Ramaphosa eyes ‘reset’ with US as he prepares for high-stakes Trump meeting

As President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to charm his way into the White House with a trade deal designed to soothe the prickly ego of Donald Trump, one can only hope he packed enough optimism to counter the frosty relations that have left South Africa feeling like the awkward guest at a party thrown by the world’s most unpredictable host.
Ramaphosa eyes ‘reset’ with US as he prepares for high-stakes Trump meeting President Cyril Ramaphosa engages with members of the SA media ahead of his meeting at the SA embassy in Washington on 20 May 2025. (Photo: Elmond Jiyane GCIS)
Victoria O’Regan
By Victoria O’Regan
20 May 2025
Facebook
0

President Cyril Ramaphosa will enter the White House on Wednesday, 21 May with a comprehensive trade deal, which he hopes will placate US President Donald Trump after months of worsening relations between Washington and Pretoria.

“I’m looking forward to a really good and positive meeting, and I’m looking forward to a really good outcome for our country, for our people,” Ramaphosa

reporters outside the South African embassy in Washington on Tuesday.

“We want to come out of the United States with a really good trade deal [and] investment promotion. We invest in the United States and they invest in us, and we want to strengthen those relations. I’m very positive.”

Read more: Ambush or adult conversation – what awaits Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House?

Diplomatic relations between SA and the US have deteriorated drastically since Trump’s return to the White House in January. The US president has issued a series of hostile executive orders and statements terminating aid, imposing import tariffs and expelling South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool.

Trump has made debunked claims that a “genocide” is unfolding against white farmers in South Africa, and has accused the South African government of confiscating land through the recent passage of the Expropriation Act, which allows the government to expropriate land without compensation in some circumstances. However, the Act has so far not been used.

He has also criticised Pretoria for a range of foreign policy decisions, including instituting proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice for committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Ramaphosa’s office on Monday said the purpose of his visit to Washington was to “reset and revitalise” relations between South Africa and its second-largest trading partner.

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola and Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau have prepared a trade deal that spans areas including gas, agriculture, automotive, minerals and reciprocals, Daily Maverick reported. The three ministers, along with Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni; Pretoria’s special envoy to the US, Mcebisi Jonas; and one of South Africa’s wealthiest businessmen, Johann Rupert, are in the US for the talks.

On Monday, Tau and Steenhuisen met with US trade representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer to discuss “aligning trade and investment priorities”, Tau’s spokesperson, Yamkela Fanisi, told Daily Maverick.

“We aim to achieve mutually beneficial trade relations to come out of this visit… We are optimistic and hope we will find each other in our presidents’ engagements,” said Fanisi following the meeting.

In an interview with

Afrika, Steenhuisen said the goal of the “cordial and constructive meeting” was to “keep the doors open with the USA.

“We had a very open and frank exchange about how we can ensure mutually beneficial trade between South Africa and the United States of America, reiterating the importance of both markets for each other.”

Starlink deal 

Ahead of Ramaphosa’s high-stakes meeting with Trump, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Pretoria planned to offer the South African-born tech billionaire and senior adviser to the US president, Elon Musk, a deal for his Starlink internet service provider to operate in SA.

The plan to offer Musk a workaround of local black economic empowerment laws comes after talks on launching Starlink in South Africa stalled earlier this year after Musk and Trump ramped up their criticism against BEE policies, according to the Bloomberg report.

The offer was expected to come at a last-minute meeting planned for Tuesday night between Musk or his representatives and a delegation of South African officials, the report added. South Africa’s engagement with Musk about Starlink won’t necessarily form part of the broader trade deal with the US, which Ramaphosa hopes will mollify Trump.

Musk has been among the most vocal critics of South Africa. In February, he accused South Africa on X of having “openly racist ownership laws”. He later claimed on X that Starlink was “not allowed to operate” in South Africa “because I’m not black” — a claim that Pretoria has refuted.

Read more: Ramaphosa’s Oval Office meeting with Trump is a diplomatic coup — now he must secure a deal

He has also been instrumental in spreading the far-right conspiracy theory that there is a genocide unfolding against white people in South Africa.

Pretoria has said there is no evidence of persecution against white people in the country.

A foreign policy analyst at the Institute for Global Dialogue, Sanusha Naidu suggested the Starlink deal was, in part, a strategic move by Ramaphosa to meet Musk on his own.

“He [Ramaphosa] knows the game. It’s about how do you maximise your strategy,” she said.

‘Strategic patience’

Naidu cautioned against anticipating that Ramaphosa’s meeting with Trump would be a repeat of the disastrous meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February.

She believed the “art” of Ramaphosa’s negotiating strategy would be crucial in the interaction.

“I think what we’re going to have in this meeting is what possibly could be strategic patience,” Naidu told Daily Maverick. She explained that “strategic patience”, in this instance, meant playing to the “impetuous” personality in the Oval Office.

“You’ve got to play the game according to how you assess it for this moment,” said Naidu. DM

Comments (0)

Scroll down to load comments...