South Africa seeks to have punitive US tariffs dropped

Mail & Guardian

23-04-2025

Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen. Photo:South Africa will push to have United States President Donald Trump's punitive 30% tariff — which has been stayed for 90 days — permanently dropped 'dramatically' or at least to the baseline 10% implemented on the country's major competitors for agricultural exports.
Trump
On Wednesday, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said an interministerial committee comprising himself, his trade industry and competition counterpart Parks Tau and International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola had been formed to take the 'two pronged approach' of negotiating with the US while also seeking alternative markets for South African exports.
'Clearly there's going to be turmoil ahead and obviously the tariff issues are of great concern to South Africa,' Steenhuisen told a media briefing on the sidelines of a G20 agricultural working group meeting, one of numerous that South Africa will host during its presidency of the grouping.
'A 30% tariff hike on South African products will obviously lead to us not being competitive anymore in that particular market, particularly given that some of our competitors are only settled with a 10% tariff that will essentially price South African agricultural growers, particularly citrus, out of the market.'
Steenhuisen said the African Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa), which granted South Africa and other African countries duty free access to the US market for a raft of goods, was 'all but cancelled in name' in the face of Trump's tariffs.
He said there was already a global knock-on effect caused by US tariff uncertainty, noting that the International Monetary Fund had lowered its GDP growth forecast on Tuesday for many countries including the US, China and India.
Steenhuisen said he and his cabinet colleagues were working on a deal to present to the US to retain competitive access to that market.
'Our plan is to use the next 90 days to approach the United States with some form of deal or package that we could put on the table, and that could take a number of forms
but we would seek to retain access to the US market on a favourable basis for South African agricultural goods,' he said.
'Our goal is to have the 30% lowered dramatically, hopefully, to no tariffs. But if we are going to have tariffs, to have it at 10% which will bring some equality against our competitors.
'We believe this will be in the United States interests as well, because they receive world class, excellent quality agricultural products from South Africa and their consumers enjoy our products. They are in high demand, and there will be price shocks for the US consumer if these tariffs start to have the effect that everyone predicts that they would have.'
Steenhuisen said the US tariffs and Agoa were not likely to form part of the discussions at this week's G20 agriculture meeting, because many of the countries attending were not beneficiaries under the trade part.
'[South Africa has] a two-track system obviously now to negotiate with the United States to try and get a favourable trade deal. For instance, we could be allowed access to the American market for citrus on a counter-seasonal basis. There are concerns Americans have around poultry and pork, and blueberries and we need to look at how we can resolve them,' he said.
Steenhuisen said he had appointed an attaché from his department to Washington at the start of the year who was talking with his counterparts regularly about 'how we can smooth out some of the issues and to put a deal on the table'.
'We can't change the American leadership or the American systems … but we can learn how to navigate the new waters and I think that we're all starting to find our feet in that regard,' he said.
'The second prong is to look for alternative markets where we can redirect South African goods, and that is why we've been in Japan and a variety of other countries. We were able to open deciduous fruit [exports] to Thailand, table grapes to the Philippines, and we continue to be on the lookout for new markets. So if Agoa is going to be cancelled, which seems likely, it won't come as a major shock.'
Delivering the opening address of the G20 meeting earlier on Wednesday, Steenhuisen said discussions this week would include the promotion of policies and investments that drive inclusive market participation towards improved food and nutrition security, empowering youth and women in agrifood systems, fostering innovation and technology transfer in agriculture and agro-processing and building climate resilience for sustainable production.
'These are not just South Africa's priorities, they reflect a shared global concern. And they speak directly to the [United Nations'] sustainable development goals, the AU's Agenda 2063, and the urgent need to make agriculture part of the solution to today's complex challenges,' he said.
'The benefits of agricultural development have not been shared equally. Not within countries. And not between them. This is our opportunity to rethink the structures that keep the majority of producers — especially women and young people — on the margins of the sector.'
He said the agricultural sector was grappling with rising input costs, unpredictable climate shocks and constrained fiscal spaces, the effects of which were being felt most severely by small-scale producers, women farmers and the rural poor.
'Yet within these challenges there is also real opportunity to change the terms of inclusion in agricultural markets, to build resilience not only into our systems, but into our institutions and to connect innovation with impact at the scale and speed that this moment demands,' Steenhuisen added.