Trump imposes 30% tariffs on SA as Pretoria announces 'urgent interventions' to protect jobs

Hours before US President Donald Trump announced 30% tariffs on South Africa, which will come into effect on 7 August rather than 1 August as initially expected, South Africa announced “urgent interventions” to support exporters impacted by the tariffs. 

“The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) has announced a set of measures in response to the imminent 30% tariff hike on South African exports to the United States, which comes into effect on 1 August 2025. 

“These urgent interventions are part of the DTIC’s ongoing commitment to protecting jobs, preserving market access to the United States, and promoting export diversification to alternate markets in Africa, the European Union, Asia, Latin America, and other strategic partners,” Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau said in a statement on Thursday night, 31 July. 

This comes hours after Tau told Radio 702 that South Africa was preparing a last-minute “enhanced” trade proposal in the hope of avoiding Trump’s punishing tariffs.

Read more: Eastern Cape on its knees, Numsa warns government of jobs ‘catastrophe’

Key among the interventions, Tau said, was the establishment of an export support desk, which would serve as a direct point of contact for companies affected by the US tariff hike.

“The desk will provide updates on developments and tailored advisory services to exporters on alternative destinations, guidance on market entry processes, insights into compliance requirements and linkages to South African Embassies and High Commissions abroad,” said Tau. 

“This tariff hike poses a direct threat to our export capacity, particularly in strategic sectors such as automotive, agro-processing, steel and chemicals, amongst others. 

“We are working with urgency and resolve to implement real, practical interventions that defend jobs and position South Africa competitively in a shifting global landscape. The stakes are high and we must respond decisively to ensure our export industries remain resilient, competitive and globally integrated into diversified markets,” he said. 

Tau said exporters were encouraged to visit the DTIC website for updates and also to engage directly with the export support desk. 

Hours before the tariffs were due to come into effect, Trump issued a new executive order outlining tariffs for over 60 countries. Some countries received modified tariffs while South Africa’s remained at the 30% previously proposed by the US.

Read more: The Tau Tariffs Hotline

South Africa is confronting the most critical moment in its fraught relations with the US, staring at exports worth almost $10-billion being exposed to stiff tariffs that risk making these goods uncompetitive.

That is the estimated value of South African exports vulnerable to the 30% “reciprocal” and sectoral import tariffs threatened by the Trump administration. 

South Africa has been advised to diversify its export destinations urgently – especially to Africa – to reduce its dependency on the US. Nevertheless, the world’s largest economy remains critical for now and South African officials have been working frantically to secure an alternative trade deal with the US to avert Trump’s deadline for imposing hefty tariffs on most countries.

Read more: Everything you need to know about the US-SA tariffs

However, said Eckart Naumann, independent economist and associate of the Trade Law Centre (Tralac), “many dozens of countries are also knocking on the door and US trade officials will likely be run off their feet”. Tralac is a non-profit organisation that builds trade-related capacity in Africa.

On Thursday, Tau told 702: “We actually spoke to the US last night, both at the level of the embassy and also at the level of the US trade representative. They indicated that even they are unable to confirm what the announcement [on South Africa’s tariff rates] would be, and that they would encourage us to resubmit our proposal, possibly an enhanced proposal, to the US government. It would be processed by the White House… At this point, they are unable to say what the final decision would be.”

Read more: US-SA trade deal still in limbo as tariff deadline looms

‘Reckless statements’

In his statement, Tau said the DA, “instead of providing constructive support to the efforts made by government”, continued to release “reckless statements which undermine the progress” the department has been making towards the tariff deadline.

“In a trying moment for South Africa, there still remain those who would seek to sabotage our efforts to resolve this impasse. Despite our tireless efforts, which we have, where possible, communicated consistently on, some segments of our country refuse to be part of the solution.

“Instead of providing constructive support to the efforts made by government, the Democratic Alliance continues to release reckless statements which undermine the progress we have been making towards the 1 August deadline. This is downright irresponsible for a party in the Government of National Unity, and an integral part of the process,” said Tau. 

Earlier on Thursday, Business Day reported that South Africa was offering the automotive and agricultural sectors alternative markets and possible Treasury-backed tax incentives, part of a two-part contingency plan to keep production lines going if SA was faced with a 30% tariff.

In response, DA spokesperson on finance Mark Burke said this “new deflection” by Tau is meant “to make up for his and his party’s failed foreign policy pageantry”.

“Instead of securing a trade deal, Tau now expects our Treasury to borrow or tax South Africans more to pay for the costs of the ANC’s association of our state with rogue nations like Iran,” said Burke.

The chances of South Africa averting or extending the deadline seemed to dim this week when Trump told reporters that he would probably not be attending the G20 Summit in Johannesburg in November “because I’ve had a lot of problems with South Africa. They have some very bad policies.” 

He also posted on his social media site Truth Social: “The August 1 deadline is the August first deadline – it stands strong and will not be extended. A big day for America!”

South Africa has offered a package of concessions, including lowering tariff barriers to US food imports, buying US gas and committing local companies to investing in US mining and recycling. But many analysts fear it will not be enough because it’s not so much about economics as it is about politics.

Zane Dangor, director-general of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, told the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s winter seminar this week that there was a risk of SA being punished for its domestic policies – particularly black economic empowerment (BEE) – no matter what economic deal it put on the table. 

Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago said earlier this month that Trump’s tariffs could cause about 100,000 job losses, with the agriculture and automotive sectors hardest hit.

Read more: Socioeconomic crisis looms as US tariffs hit Eastern Cape’s vital automotive industry hard

Naumann said the US imported goods worth $14.6-billion from South Africa in 2024, according to its own data. However, he noted that about 36% of these exports were exempt from the new tariffs because they were natural resources (mainly platinum group metals, rhodium and gold) that the US needed. This would leave South African exports to the US worth $9.344-billion vulnerable to the potential new tariff rates. 

Naumann said South Africa’s exposure to the US as an export market was relatively limited, with about 7.5% of its total exports going to the US. “However, in some sectors, South Africa’s exposure to the US is quite high,” he said.  “For example, last year, 29% of our boat exports went to the US duty-free under Agoa [the African Growth and Opportunity Act]; 25% of aluminium and articles thereof were exported to the US and are now subject to 50% tariffs; 11% of our auto exports were shipped duty-free to the US and, along with much of the rest of the world, now face a 25% sectoral tariff. 

“In contrast, key competitors like the EU, UK and Japan, and indeed Mexico under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, have negotiated far more preferential access to the US for their motor vehicle exports.”

Naumann noted that the tariffs SA faced were differentiated: there were the 30% “reciprocal” tariffs, but also sectoral tariffs of 25% on autos and parts; 50% sectoral tariffs on steel and aluminium; an existing 10% general tariff (to be replaced by the reciprocal tariff) and a threatened extra 10% tariff on all BRICS member countries. 

Read more: Goodyear to shut down Nelson Mandela Bay manufacturing plant — 900 jobs at risk

“The days of preferential access to the US market are definitely over,” Naumann added. For now, under Agoa, the US was still waiving standard “most favoured nation” duties – though not the additional ones the Trump administration has added. He thought it doubtful that South Africa – perhaps any country – would remain in Agoa in its current guise after its scheduled expiry on 30 September. 

“The intersection of geopolitical, domestic and trade issues best defines the current impasse between South Africa and the US, and a reset is un­avoidable,” Tau said in a statement this week. He said SA had decided not to retaliate in terms of the tariffs and awaited the US’s response to its proposed framework deal.

The deal included South Africa importing 75-100 petajoules of US liquified natural gas for a 10-year period, unlocking $12-billion; giving the US more agricultural market access by simplifying US poultry imports, unlocking about $91-million in trade; being ready to open the South African market  for US blueberries; local firms committing to invest $3.3-billion in US industries such as mining and metals recycling; and both governments agreeing to pursue joint investment in critical minerals, pharmaceuticals and agri-machinery. 

Tralac CEO Trudi Hartzenberg, however, thought pork and poultry seemed a “tricky” part of the negotiations. 

Donald MacKay, director of XA Global Trade Advisors, said although the state of the SA-US trade negotiations was very murky, in part because both sides had signed a non-disclosure agreement, he suspected that South Africa would, in fact, be hit with the threatened big 30% tariffs. 

But he was hoping that the US would give South Africa another reprieve – an extension of the deadline to complete negotiations for a new deal. “The hardest-hit centres by my estimation are going to be fresh fruit, particularly citrus and table grapes.”

But MacKay said probably about half of these products had already been exported this season. “So, still bad, but … it really means next year’s going to be a particularly big problem”.

MacKay added: “The government keeps telling people to find other markets, as if that is really easy to do. For a product like citrus, we already export to over 100 countries. There’s just not that many left we can send [citrus] to and certainly none left that will get us the same kind of prices we get in the US.

“Cars, of course, are not included in the 30% tariff, but they’ve already got their own 25% tariff. We’ve seen how that looks with Mercedes-Benz at least temporarily closing down its factory,” he added, referring to the company shutting down its manufacturing plant in East London for July, though it was reopened this week.

Read more: SA citrus eyes record export of 180m cartons, but Trump tariffs may prune that estimate

MacKay said South Africa needed “to get back to basics. We need to get a properly functioning, professional ambassador into the US. I can’t even remember the last time we had a properly functioning ambassador.”

Tau has been criticised in some quarters for the way he has handled the trade negotiations, but MacKay said because the negotiations had been held behind closed doors, it was impossible to judge.

But, he said, he would like the government “to put some time in with the sectors and the companies most negatively impacted to look at what can be done”.

Daniel Bradlow, an economic diplomacy expert at the University of Pretoria and the South African Institute of International Affairs, said: “The lesson from all of this, not just from South Africa, but from what’s happening everywhere, is countries have to learn how to restructure their trade relations to work around the US.” 

For South Africa and for Africa generally, this meant there was a need to accelerate the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and other African regional trade arrangements.

The institutions that needed to be developed more intensely included regional multi­lateral financial institutions in Africa such as the Trade and Development Bank and the African Export-Import Bank, which focuses specifically on developing trade for Africa, and several others, Bradlow said. 

“And I think South Africa should be looking at: how do we make those more robust and more effective?”

Other critical issues to address – which were being tackled in South Africa’s G20 – were making Africa’s debt more sustainable and how to increase development finance, because that would help to finance the regional infrastructure that is needed to implement the AfCFTA. 

Bradlow said whatever the outcome of the SA-US trade negotiations – even if the US accepted the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s package, South Africa would be hit as the US was a big trading partner. It was just a question of how much. 

He noted that, for starters, a 10% increase was a given as no country had escaped that so far, except on critical minerals, though some countries had managed to lower their reciprocal and sectoral tariff rates.  

On the auto industry, he said one of the big questions was how the foreign auto producers would react to a tariff increase: “Would they start shutting down factories?” 

Like the government, Bradlow also said South Africa and other countries needed to shift trade relations away from the US because, even if a Democrat were to oust Trump in 2028, Democrats might not change the tariffs much – as former president Joe Biden had not changed much of Trump’s tariffs in his first term.

Naumann noted that the US was South Africa’s second-largest export destination by country (7.5% of total exports) and China its first with 11%. Both were overshadowed by the EU, which gets 17% of South African exports and the Southern African Development Community free-trade area. 

“But our exports to the US are far more diversified than our exports to China, which are mostly raw materials or resources. That makes the US probably the most important destination as a country, albeit shadowed by the EU as a whole.”

A major report on SA-US trade relations just published by Tralac shows the impact of increased US tariffs on South African companies and industries would depend on several factors, including tariff advantage or disadvantage relative to competitors; the seasonality of demand and supply (how responsive demand is to the landed costs of products); and US domestic policies such as local tax breaks on locally produced autos.

MP Toby Chance, the DA’s spokesperson on trade, industry and competition, said Tau had been slow in realising the danger from Trump’s tariffs and in taking action “both to woo him and explore alternative markets”.

He said South Africa had erred in not tackling Trump’s “instinctive negativity” towards the country with better diplomacy, citing the appointment of Ebrahim Rasool as ambassador and Mcebisi Jonas as special envoy to the US.

“Another glaring omission is the government’s ignoring the issue of non-tariff barriers, continually raised by the Trump administration as factors in the negotiations, which are a bar to investment not just by the US but other countries and firms, e.g. BEE, the Employment Equity Act, expropriation without compensation, etc.”

Naumann said it was probably unfair to criticise SA’s negotiators for the perceived lack of progress. “We’re not first in line for a reasonable deal and apart from years-long neglect and being virtually absent in Washington – and still without an ambassador or interlocutor – politically we’re certainly not well favoured by Washington. We shouldn’t maintain high hopes of a particularly favourable outcome involving exemptions and a low country tariff rate, as this just doesn’t appear to fit the current political narrative.”

He thought new tariffs for South Africa would be postponed for further negotiations, but added: “The US will be careful not to make concessions to South Africa that might undermine dozens of other trade deals being pursued right now.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

This story has been updated to include the tariff announcement.