By Simon Nare
President Cyril Ramaphosa says a South African delegation will travel to the United States next week to persuade President Donald Trump’s administration to further reduce the 30% tariff imposed on South African goods.
Speaking in the National Assembly on Thursday during a Questions for Oral Reply session, Ramaphosa said the government was making steady progress in its engagements with Washington, particularly through the U.S. Trade Office.
“The good thing is that the noise between our countries has quietened down, and we are now engaged in serious discussions with the US, particularly their trade office and that for us is a great advance,” said Ramaphosa.
“Let me add that a number of other countries are still in the woods discussing trade issues in that big market and they are nowhere near any form of conclusion so we do believe that we are making progress and we should be able to see an agreement sooner, I would say rather than later.”
Trump’s administration earlier this year introduced sweeping changes to U.S. foreign policy, including new import tariffs on several countries. Relations between South Africa and the U.S. were further strained by what government described as a disinformation campaign led by right-wing groups AfriForum and Solidarity.
In an attempt to repair relations, Ramaphosa previously led a high-level delegation of business leaders and prominent figures to the White House to dispel allegations of “white genocide.”
However, the 30% tariff on South African exports to the U.S. still took effect on August 7, 2025.
Ramaphosa told MPs that while the U.S. was dealing with numerous trade negotiations worldwide, South Africa was determined to secure better terms.
“We continue to insist that our minerals should be beneficiated locally so we can export value-added products,” he said.
He added that South Africa’s broader message of self-reliance and industrialization was beginning to resonate globally.
““You may recall that during Covid one of the things we said was that we African countries, we want the right to manufacture our own vaccines. That was unheard off. Together with India, we went to the World Trade Organisation and sewed or rather insisted that we need as countries in the global south to have the intellectual property transferred to us so that we should manufacture out own vaccine,” said Ramaphosa.
“Now that light the light for many countries and they realised that yes, it is unfair for us not to have the right to manufacture our own vaccines. We went from message to engagement, and it is now at the WTO leading to finalization hopefully.”
The president also emphasized that Africa was moving away from being merely a source of raw materials to asserting control over its resources.
“As an industrialised country, South Africa has the capability to add value to its minerals, and our goal is to expand beneficiation,” he said.
Ramaphosa noted that the G20 process had given South Africa an opportunity to put this issue firmly on the global agenda.
“The G20 process has give us the opportunity to put this matter firmly on the agenda and its being discussed and it will be in the declaration that the world or the G20 countries will now adopt. So, we are making progress and as we make progress, we continue to raise the South African flag,” said Ramaphosa.
“And through the G20 process, our flag is going to fly higher and higher and forever leading to the development of our economy to improve the lives of South Africans.”
He further said that South Africa would also use the G20 platform to deepen talks with other countries opposed to the U.S. tariffs and pursue bilateral trade agreements that aim to scrap such barriers altogether.
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