South Africa: Ramaphosa to Offer New Trade Deal to Trump to Avoid US Tariffs Firstpost Africa
South Africa's government has said that it will offer a new trade deal to US President Donald Trump to avoid a 30% tariff on its exports, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa. The tariffs, which threaten an estimated 30,000 jobs in a country with an unemployment rate over 33%, are not solely a trade issue. The Trump administration's grievances extend to South Africa's domestic policies, such as the Land Expropriation Act and the Black Economic Empowerment Act, which are designed to address historical racial inequalities. The US is also concerned with South Africa's international relations, including its BRICS membership and its genocide case against Israel. While the Ramaphosa government is attempting to appease the US with a new trade offer, including increased imports of American goods, the Democratic Alliance, a key party in the South African coalition government, believes the tariffs will remain until the government revises its domestic racial policies. The African National Congress, however, is unlikely to make such changes, as its political identity is rooted in ending the racist white minority rule of the past.
See More
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
8 minutes ago
- First Post
USAID didn't fund voter turnout in India: US embassy's data contradicts Trump
The data released by the US embassy has shown that no funds were granted for voter turnout-related activity in India. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump had claimed that the USAID had spent $21 million to increase voter turnout in India. Donald Trump speaks to members of the media at Manhattan Supreme Court amid his hush money trial, in New York, US, May 7, 2024. (Photo: Curtis Means/Pool via Reuters) The US Embassy in India has contradicted President Donald Trump's claim about election-related funding in India. The data provided by the US embassy, and shared by the Union government in the parliament, shows that USAID did not provide any funds for any election-related activity in India. There was no entry of $21 million in the list of India-related grants. Earlier in February, Trump had claimed that USAID had given $21 million to increase voter turnout in Indian elections. The basis of the claim was a post on X by the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) that said it had cancelled '$21M for voter turnout in India' among a host of other grants. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD US taxpayer dollars were going to be spent on the following items, all which have been cancelled: - $10M for "Mozambique voluntary medical male circumcision" - $9.7M for UC Berkeley to develop "a cohort of Cambodian youth with enterprise driven skills" - $2.3M for "strengthening… — Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 15, 2025 Trump had alleged that the previous Democratic Party's administration had interfered in Indian elections. He also questioned the basis of providing funds to a foreign country's elections and used it as a talking point in his campaign to dismantle government grants, departments, and programmes, including the USAID. '$21 million going to my friend Prime Minister Modi in India for voter turnout. We are giving $21 million for voter turnout in India. What about us? I want voter turnout too," said Trump on one occasion. US embassy contradicts Trump's claim After Doge on February 16 claimed that it had revoked grants for Indian elections, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reached out to the US embassy and requested to urgently furnish details of expenditure incurred on all USAID-assisted or funded projects in India over the last 10 years other than those being implemented under the seven run in partnership with the government, the government told the parliament in response to the question of CPI-M MP John Brittas. The answer, signed by Kirti Vardhan Singh, the Minister of State for External Affairs, said that the US embassy replied with the information on July 2. In its response, the US embassy provided the list of all funds provided by the USAID, Singh told the parliament. The list —see below— did not have any election-related grants. The US embassy further said that USAID would cease operations in India on August 15, as per Singh's answer. What did Trump say about Indian elections? Based on the Doge's claim, Trump said that the previous administration were trying to get someone other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi elected with their interventions in Indian elections. On one occasion, Trump said, 'Twenty-one million dollars in voter turnout — why do we need to spend 21 million for voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian Government because when we hear that Russia spent about $2,000 in our country, it was a big deal. They took some internet ads for $2,000. This is a total breakthrough.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On another occasion, Trump also called it a 'kickback scheme'.
Mint
8 minutes ago
- Mint
China acts to curb Nvidia chip sales after US Commerce Secretary's ‘insulting' remark: ‘We don't sell them our best…'
Beijing's decision to restrict sales of Nvidia's China-specific artificial intelligence processor came after US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's remarks about chip exports that officials found 'insulting', according to a report by the Financial Times (FT). Chinese regulators have taken action to discourage domestic tech companies from purchasing the H20, a simplified processor commonly used for artificial intelligence in China. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) responded to Lutnick's comments, made last month, the report said, citing people aware of the development. 'We don't sell them our best stuff, not our second-best stuff, not even our third-best,' Lutnick told CNBC on July 15, the day after the Donald Trump administration lifted the export controls on H20 sales, which had been implemented in April. 'You want to sell the Chinese enough that their developers get addicted to the American technology stack, that's the thinking,' he added. A few senior Chinese leaders found the comments "insulting", prompting policymakers to explore options to restrict Chinese tech companies from purchasing the processors, two people told FT. Hence, Chinese tech groups delayed or considerably reduced their H20 orders, it added. The action is considered to be a setback to Nvidia, whose CEO Jensen Huang visited Beijing last month and pledged to remain competitive in China despite increasing geopolitical strains with the US. After Huang's well-received trip, Nvidia garnered enough interest from Chinese clients for TSMC to resume H20 production lines, the report noted. In recent years, Chinese regulators have encouraged greater use of domestic chips. However, major tech companies like Alibaba and ByteDance contended that their AI progress would suffer without Nvidia's chips, jeopardising China's ability to compete in the technology race against the US. 'Lutnick's speech gives the coalition [of regulators] one more reason to intensify its efforts to push tech firms to use China's own chips,' a person close to the policymakers told FT. A week after his remarks, China's internet regulator CAC issued an informal notice called 'window guidance' to major tech firms such as ByteDance and Alibaba, citing security concerns and advising them to halt new orders for Nvidia's H20 chips, the report added. The agency also summoned Nvidia executives on July 31 over alleged 'serious security issues'. The CAC alleged that US AI experts reported Nvidia's chips contain location tracking features and can be disabled remotely, a claim Nvidia strongly denies.
Time of India
26 minutes ago
- Time of India
How Fed Chair Powell has used Jackson Hole to signal what's next
One last time since President Donald Trump nominated him to lead the U.S. central bank in late 2017, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday will walk through the Jackson Lake Lodge's expansive lobby, past the taxidermied grizzly bear, and into a ballroom lighted with elk-antler chandeliers to deliver a speech at the global central bankers' influential symposium in Wyoming. In his seven previous Jackson Hole speeches, Powell has touched on a range of issues, from esoteric economic concepts and monetary policy history lessons to pledges of policy support through the COVID-19 pandemic and the central bank's determination to win the inflation war that followed. Each speech, too, has included some measure of preview for the Fed 's next interest rate moves, and that above all else is why Powell will have the world's attention at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Friday. Here is what he has previously said, and what happened next: by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like How much is your car worth? Take a look here Cars | Value Click Here 2018: STARS AND RATE HIKES AHEAD Powell's first - and longest - Jackson Hole speech set out his approach to policymaking, focused on "navigating by the stars" - the economics world's shorthand for concepts like the natural rate of unemployment and neutral interest rate. He did, though, offer a view on what was coming down the pike. Live Events What Powell said: "Let me conclude by returning to the matter of navigating between the two risks I identified - moving too fast and needlessly shortening the expansion, versus moving too slowly and risking a destabilizing overheating. ... I see the current path of gradually raising interest rates as the FOMC's approach to taking seriously both of these risks." What the Fed did: Following the two quarter-percentage-point rate hikes in the first half of the year, the central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee delivered two more quarter-percentage-point hikes before the end of the year. 2019: TRUMP TARIFFS 1.0 AND RATE CUTS Part history lesson and part dissection of the trade policy moves in Trump's first term in the White House that were starting to blur the outlook, Powell's 2019 speech was met within hours by the U.S. president asking on social media "who is our bigger enemy" - Powell or Chinese leader Xi Jinping? What Powell said: "We have been monitoring three factors that are weighing on this favorable outlook: slowing global growth, trade policy uncertainty, and muted inflation. ... we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion, with a strong labor market and inflation near its symmetric 2% objective." What the Fed did: It followed a quarter-percentage-point rate cut that July with two more such reductions in borrowing costs in September and October, far less than what Trump had demanded. Then the pandemic arrived, and everything changed. 2020: 'INCLUSIVE' EMPLOYMENT, AVERAGE 2% INFLATION Delivered remotely because of the pandemic, Powell's speech in 2020 laid out a new approach to policy that placed greater weight on defending the Fed's employment mandate. What Powell said: "Our revised statement emphasizes that maximum employment is a broad-based and inclusive goal. ... Employment can run at or above real-time estimates of its maximum level without causing concern, unless accompanied by signs of unwanted increases in inflation or the emergence of other risks that could impede the attainment of our goals. ... Following periods when inflation has been running below 2%, appropriate monetary policy will likely aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2% for some time." What the Fed did: In September it adopted a new three-part test, seen at the time as an outgrowth of the new framework, for raising interest rates: the attainment of maximum employment and 2% inflation, and indications that inflation will "moderately exceed 2% for some time." The promise helped support the economy's recovery from the pandemic shock, but the stringent hurdle for restarting rate hikes was later blamed for slowing the Fed's response to inflation the following year. 2021: NO RATE HIKES NEEDED FOR NOW In a second straight virtual appearance, Powell dismissed signs of the coming inflation wave as "transitory" - a word he has come to regret ever uttering. What Powell said: "Current high inflation readings are likely to prove transitory ... If a central bank tightens policy in response to factors that turn out to be temporary, the main policy effects are likely to arrive after the need has passed ... Today, with substantial slack remaining in the labor market and the pandemic continuing, such a mistake could be particularly harmful." What the Fed did: It began slowing its asset purchases in November and held the policy rate steady at the near-zero level until March 2022. Critics at the time, and most Fed policymakers since, have said the assessment of inflation as "transitory" was a mistake that delayed the start of the rate hikes needed to fight inflation. 2022: RATE HIKES, AND PAIN, AHEAD Mincing no words in his shortest Jackson Hole speech, Powell made clear the Fed's intent to bring inflation to heel, no matter the pain it might cause. What Powell said: "While higher interest rates, slower growth, and softer labor market conditions will bring down inflation, they will also bring some pain to households and businesses. ... At some point, as the stance of monetary policy tightens further, it likely will become appropriate to slow the pace of increases. Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time." What the Fed did: It delivered two more 75-basis-point rate increases to follow the two it had done in the meetings before Powell's speech, and then increased the policy rate in smaller increments until it reached the 5.25%-5.50% range in July 2023. 2023: RATE HIKES STILL POSSIBLE In remarks that were less stern than those delivered the previous year, Powell held out the possibility of more rate hikes while acknowledging the signs of progress in reining in inflation. What Powell said: "We will proceed carefully as we decide whether to tighten further or, instead, to hold the policy rate constant and await further data. Restoring price stability is essential to achieving both sides of our dual mandate. ... We will keep at it until the job is done." What the Fed did: It held the policy rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range, set just weeks before Powell's speech, for a little over a year. 2024: RATE CUTS COMING SOON Risks had now shifted from inflation to employment, and Powell sent a clear signal that rate cuts were coming. What Powell said: "My confidence has grown that inflation is on a sustainable path back to 2%. ... We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions. ... The time has come for policy to adjust." What the Fed did: It ended the year-long hold on the policy rate by cutting it by half of a percentage point in September 2024, and by another half a percentage point over the final two meetings of 2024.
