By Simon Nare
The South African government remains uncertain on whether it will win the battle to get United States President Donald Trump’s administration to decrease the 30% tariffs on South African goods.
International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola told reporters on Wednesday that despite engagements between the two countries being escalated to the highest level, the prospects of a positive outcome were still unclear.
Lamola stressed that the government had signed off on the tariffs with the hope that negotiations would result in them being reduced.
“Again, it is also uncertain whether we will succeed or not, but we are putting our best efforts to succeed with regards with the 30%% tariff and this is not just a South African challenge. It’s a challenge across the globe.
“But we have to continue to engage to put efforts and also to continue with the diversification of our markets to look in the east and to other countries that are open to trade with South Africa,” he said.
The minister said as evidenced by a recent teleconference between President Cyril Ramaphosa and Trump, engagements wee happening at the highest.
While the hike was an area of concern, the relationship between the two countries remained resilient, he said.
“We are our continuing to hold several strategic meetings at various political and governmental levels, including a recent meeting that I held the chargé d’affaires of the United States of America, Mr David Greene.
“Deputy Minister (Alvin) Botes and his counterpart, Deputy Secretary of State Mr Christopher Landau, also engaged via video conference recently discussing matters of mutual concern, including trade, geopolitical issues and domestic matters,” he said.
Lamola said these engagements were ongoing, and later this week the country would be hosting a US congressional staff delegation from the House of Foreign Affairs Committee.
The minister revealed that during these discussions with the US counterparts, the governments had addressed their concerns on Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment and the Expropriation Act.
“We have reiterated that these are matters which are firmly within the grasp of the South African people and are continuously being debated and assessed.
“Furthermore, in relation to assertions of human rights violations as contained in the latest US Human Rights 2024 report, we reiterate that allegations of state sponsored violations of human rights are not factual,” he said.
Lamola once again said that statistics on rural safety showed that violent crime was indiscriminatory.
“While the loss of any life is a tragedy, these statistics do not reveal a pattern of action driven by inflammatory racial rhetoric against a specific community.
“These statistics are continuously being reviewed every quarter with inputs from all the stakeholders in rural safety landscape,” he said.
On whether Trump would be attending the G20 summit, Lamola could not say for certain if he would make the Heads of State Summit. He did emphasise that Trump had been invited.
He said the official communication with the Trump administration was when they confirmed he would be attending, but they have since noted that he might not attend and rather send a representative.
“It’s an unpredictable situation. So, we will hear from the US as and when they decide. But whatever they decide, the G20 will proceed. We will work on all the leaders that will be present to find an outcome,” he said.
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