South Africa to offer US new deal to avoid 30% tariff
South African Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on May 21.
– South Africa will offer a 'generous' new trade deal to the US to avoid 30 per cent tariffs, ministers said on Aug 12.
Washington on Aug 8 slapped the huge tariff on some South African exports, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, despite efforts by Pretoria to negotiate a better arrangement to avoid massive job losses.
The ministers did not release details of the new offer but said previously discussed measures to increase imports of US poultry, blueberries and pork had been finalised.
'When the document is eventually made public, I think you would see it as a very broad, generous and ambitious offer to the United States on trade,' Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said at a press briefing.
Officials have said the 30 per cent tariff could cost the economy around 30,000 jobs.
'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,' Trade Minister Parks Tau said.
The US is South Africa's third-largest trading partner, after the European Union and China.
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But South African exports account for only 0.25 per cent of total US imports and are 'therefore not a threat to US production', Mr Tau said.
Mr Steenhuisen said US diplomats raised issues related to South African domestic policies, which was a 'surprise given the fact we thought we were in a trade negotiation'.
The two nations are at odds over a range of policies.
US President Donald Trump has criticised land and employment laws meant to redress racial inequalities that linger 30 years after the end of apartheid.
'Things like expropriation without compensation, things like some of the race laws in the country, are issues that they regard as barriers now to doing trade with South Africa,' he told AFP on the sidelines of the briefing.
Mr Steenhuisen said: 'I think we're seeing some form of a new era now where trade and tariffs are being used to deal with other issues, outside of what would generally be trade concerns.' AFP
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