It is encouraging to note that despite no real evidence of progress in the talks between the US and SA over tariffs, President Cyril Ramaphosa and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, have not given up yet.
On Thursday, we woke to news that the two heads of state had held a telephone discussion on bilateral trade matters. This followed the US’s unilateral imposition of a 30% tariff on some of the goods SA exports to the country.
The new tariff regime kicked in yesterday and Trump has also threatened to impose additional punitive tariffs on SA and other members of the Brics bloc, which include China, India, Brazil and Iran.
Though the details of the telephone call are not known, the fact that the two are still talking gives a glimmer of hope that a deal is still possible.
Government estimates suggest that as many as 30,000 direct jobs may be adversely affected in the agricultural and automotive industries, as well as several other sectors.
This is an economy with exceedingly high rates of unemployment. It is therefore imperative that SA does everything possible to convince the Trump administration to lower the tariffs and allow our goods to better access to the huge US market.
This, as ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula recently stated, can be done without SA compromising its sovereignty or abandoning constitutionally-imperative policies aimed at redressing historical imbalances and making the economy more inclusive.
As the experience of many other countries faced with the problems of unilaterally-imposed tariffs by the US, the world has entered unfamiliar territory where well-established trade protocols and traditions are being disrupted.
This calls for countries to look for new ways to navigate this uncertain environment and to protect themselves from the unpredictability of the world’s biggest economy.
In our case, this may require that we continue trying to forge a good working relationship with the US while increasingly diversifying our export markets so that in future we are not too dependent on exports to one or two powerful countries.
One of the key steps towards that, even though it will take some time, is to continue with the push for beneficiation in mining and related industries as well as increased trade with our neighbours on the African continent and other markets in the Global South.
SowetanLIVE
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