Team SA ‘on the ground’ in US, says Ramaphosa, warning against retaliatory tariffs

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government is continuing engagements with the US “to secure what we would term a mutually beneficial trade and investment deal” after the US imposed 30% tariffs on South African exports in August. 

Speaking in Parliament during a question and answer session on Tuesday, 9 September, Ramaphosa said the Presidency and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition had sent representatives “who are currently in the United States, who are preparing for the further formal negotiations with the United States government, which will be taking place in just a few days”. 

He said they were meeting with stakeholders, including “the administration, legislators, business people and a whole number of other people, in both New York and Washington”.

Ramaphosa did not mention who was part of the group. But he did later mention that Minister of Trade and Industry and Competition Parks Tau and International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola would join the delegation. The President will attend the United Nations General Assembly, which begins in New York this week. It is unclear whether Tau and Lamola are part of his delegation or are there for separate tariff talks. 

‘Careful before engaging in war’

During the parliamentary session on Tuesday, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema said South Africa’s approach to negotiations with the US had been “that of appeasement and almost tantamount to begging”. 

“You created an impression of us crawling on the floor and begging and cementing our place as a very junior partner to the US,” Malema told Ramaphosa.

The EFF leader said South Africa “has lost its status globally” while other countries such as China, Canada and the European Union had imposed retaliatory tariffs against the US.

In response, Ramaphosa said many countries sought to engage in negotiations with the US, including the world’s largest economies.

The President said that 600 US-based companies were operating in South Africa and that imposing retaliatory tariffs could harm their local employees. 

“The 600 US companies that are doing business in South Africa employ many people, and it is the interests of these many people that we as a government have to take care of before we engage in a war,” said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa also outlined some of the efforts under way to protect South African businesses and jobs from the impact of the US tariffs. Daily Maverick has reported that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition said at least 30,000 jobs were at risk due to the tariff increases. South Africa launched an Export Support Desk to help the country’s businesses affected by the tariff hike. 

Read more: Department of Trade, Industry and Competition says 30,000 jobs at risk from Trump tariffs

Ramaphosa said the country had chosen a route of engagement and decided “that we should actually sit down and negotiate these issues, and in sitting down, we’ve come to the conclusion that we will find good answers, good answers to be able to take matters forward”. 

He said Pretoria’s response was informed in consultation with the private sector, including importers and exporters. 

“It’s all very well to say what we should have done is to retaliate, and in retaliation, you’ve got to be absolutely clear whether you will be able to achieve precisely what you need to achieve. We believe that we are on the right course, a course that should end up with a mutually beneficial outcome,” said Ramaphosa. 

South Africa offered a proposed framework deal to US trade representatives in Washington in May, before Ramaphosa and Trump met at the White House. Representatives were later told they needed to revise this proposal, in accordance with the Trump administration’s new template for US trade with sub-Saharan Africa, as reported by Daily Maverick. 

Read more: Ramaphosa announces urgent measures to shield South African firms from Trump’s tariff fallout

A strategy for results

Continuing his response to Malema and criticising the call for SA to impose retaliatory tariffs, Ramaphosa said, “So if one wants to play to the gallery, one could embark on the type of option that Honourable Malema is talking about without knowing what outcome that option will have. Our option is informed by what we want to gain.”

He said South Africa wanted to continue exporting to the US and “enable our companies also to invest in the United States, but to also get United States companies to invest in us”.

Also on Tuesday, US retailer Walmart announced it would open stores in South Africa. The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) welcomed it as “an expression of confidence in the country”, showing that “South Africa remains a reliable investment destination”.

Ramaphosa said SA’s efforts to engage the US are “a strategy which we believe will yield results, notwithstanding”.

He also noted “the fact that we are obviously dealing with the United States administration that at times is unpredictable and that at times just retaliates”.

Ramaphosa reiterated that the country would not be bullied: “We will stand as a sovereign country and negotiate and get the best deal for South Africa – that’s precisely what we’re doing.”

Read more: Ramaphosa, Trump discuss ‘bilateral trade matters’ in phone call as tariffs come into effect

SA ambassador to US ‘soon to be finalised’ 

DA spokesperson on International Relations Ryan Smith asked Ramaphosa to confirm to Parliament “that South Africa’s ambassador nominee to the United States of America will be a capable, skilled and non-partial career diplomat and not another party political deployee”. 

Since March, South Africa has had no ambassador to the US since the expulsion of Ebrahim Rasool, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused him of being a “race-baiting politician who hates America”.

Rasool, a former ambassador under the Obama administration, was expelled barely two months after he arrived in Washington. 

Ramaphosa told Parliament: “The appointment of South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, which is soon to be finalised and made public, will be a person who is capable, a person who is sufficiently well experienced and sufficiently well versed in world views and world politics, and who knows the American market extremely well – that is the type of person that we are going to appoint.

As Ramaphosa wrapped up the question, he joked: “Madam Speaker, I must tell you that there have been a lot of applications, and some of them have come from this House.” DM