South Africa offers US a revised trade deal and seeks to diversify exports

Mail & Guardian

7 hours ago

Minister Parks Tau said the US's 30% tariff on exports has necessitated a balanced response between renegotiation, trade diversification and protection from an import surge. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The cabinet has approved a revised trade offer to the United States, which last week put into effect a damaging 30% tariff on local exports, the trade, industry and competition minister, Parks Tau, said on Tuesday.
The offer, presented to US representatives on 9 August, remains under wraps until it is formally put before US leaders, Tau told a joint briefing with the department of agriculture. South Africa has
'I can't speak about the offer yet as it needs to be presented to US representatives first. But it substantively responds to the issues the US raised in its 2025 national trade estimates report,' Tau said.
South Africa is one of numerous countries slapped with tariffs, which
The US is South Africa's third-largest trading partner after the European Union and China, but South Africa ranks only 43rd on the list of US importers, accounting for just 0.25% of that country's total imports. Agriculture makes up about 4% of South Africa's exports to the US, worth R9.8 billion ($537 million) and up 104% since 2018.
'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,' Tau said.
The government says the tariffs will
The proposed revised agreement addresses sanitary and phytosanitary measures that had hampered US poultry, blueberry and pork imports. Poultry from that country has now been granted access under a conditional self-ban and self-lifting system, allowing the US to take advantage of the 72 000-tonne tariff rate quota agreed in 2016.
'Consequently, the USA-Africa Trade Desk has informed us that it will be shipping containers of poultry and pork to South Africa in two weeks' time, which is testimony that these issues have been resolved,' said Tau.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen stressed that
'Given the exchange rate and our high-quality production, the US gets a very good deal from South African agriculture,' he said. 'It would be a shame if these excellent products couldn't land in those markets.'
Steenhuisen added that avocados from Limpopo can still compete in the US despite a stiff tariff hike, and that some citrus earmarked for the US could be redirected to the EU.
He said a non-disclosure agreement signed with the US limited what details could be provided about the revised framework deal but said the trade offer by South Africa was 'a broad, generous and open offer' which meets 'the ambition criteria'.
'If one was to look at this through a trade and tariff perspective, I think this offer represents something that would be good for the United States and something that would be good for South Africa,' he added.
The government has also contacted more than 54 South African exporters through the export support desk to update them on negotiations, clarify tariffs, explain the economic response package and
'Since being operational, thus far 23 companies have used the Export Support Desk and were accordingly assisted,' Tau said.
These interventions were designed to absorb the tariff shock and protect jobs and build long-term resilience. He said he could not yet provide the monetary value of the support because discussions were ongoing.
Both ministers stressed that diversification is not plan B, with Tau saying the
'We are pursuing these markets because we see growing demand, existing negotiations and a positive reception to South African products. This is not just about trade numbers; it is directly linked to job protection,' Tau said.
'We do also, in agriculture, see the African continent as a huge opportunity for us to start improving the trade we do, particularly the wine sector has identified Africa as a growth market,' Steeinhuisen added.
Diversification is a part of the sugar master plan to export biofuels and presents an opportunity for power stations to be repurposed to process the country's competitive advantage in biofuels, Steeinhusien said.
'It is one of the issues we are working with the sugar sector to move towards. And I think we will need to fast-track the overarching regulatory and legislative platform to finally allow that particular sector to go through,' he said.
The government is also negotiating trade deals with Brazil and India — which were slapped with 50% tariffs respectively — as well as Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and countries in the Middle East.
'In terms of diversification, China is a huge opportunity for South Africa — a 1.6 billion population — that's a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of demand for our agricultural products,' said Steenhuisen.
He said China usually negotiates one product at a time but has now made a deal for five — stone fruits, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and prunes. The deal will be concluded on the sidelines of the G20 Agriculture engagement group in September.
'The next mission thereafter is cherries and mangoes and we are already advanced in terms of negotiations there,' said Steenhuisen.
Tau highlighted that the US tariffs affect more than 130 trading partners, which means products blocked from the US market will flood elsewhere, creating harmful overcapacity in global markets for steel, glass, agricultural products, solar and vehicles.
To counter this, South Africa will implement anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard measures to protect domestic industries.