Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has engaged his counterpart US President Donald Trump after the start of 30% punitive tariffs.
The Presidency said the two leaders held a telephone call on bilateral trade matters on Thursday morning. The two leaders agreed to continue their engagements, recognising the current trade negotiations of the US. Their respective trade negotiators will engage further, it added.
South Africa has failed in its attempts to reach a trade deal framework with the US, despite weeks of negotiations with trade representatives from the world’s largest economy.
In April Trump announced “reciprocal tariffs” on South Africa and other countries, only to suspend them until August pending negotiations. Eleventh-hour talks failed to produce an agreed framework, meaning the tariffs are set to kick in on Thursday.
Briefing the media after this week’s cabinet meeting, minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said it received an update on the framework deal with the US with the provision that the tariffs will be reviewed as soon as the two countries reach a deal.
She said the cabinet affirmed the government’s commitment to finding constructive and sustainable solutions through continued engagements with the US, including at a presidential level.
“Government’s efforts remain focused on growing the economy to save and create new jobs, which include intensifying diversification efforts and strengthening their global supply chain integration as the country works to expand its export markets to Asia, Europe, the Middle East and across Africa to enhance our economic resilience,” she said.
“Specific to industries impacted by the tariff increase, the government is focusing on demand-side interventions in the affected industries and targeted interventions to ensure industry stability and safeguard employment.”
These include:
the establishment of an export support desk, which will serve as a direct point of contact for affected companies;
measures to assist companies to absorb the tariff and facilitate long-term resilience and growth strategies to protect jobs and productive capacity in South Africa;
a localisation support fund (LSF) for affected companies to contribute to the national effort; and
the export and competitiveness support programme (ECSP), which will include a working capital facility and plant and equipment facility to address short- to medium-term needs across all industries.
The department of employment and labour will work on measures to mitigate potential job losses using existing instruments within its entities that can be adjusted to respond to the current challenges, she said.
“Following consultations with the Competition Commission, a block exemption for exporters has been introduced to enable collaboration and co-ordination by competitors. A draft block exemption will be published by the end of the week so that the process can be concluded expeditiously.”
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