President Cyril Ramaphosa called President Donald Trump ahead of the US imposition of 30-percent tariffs on South African exports Thursday and the leaders agreed to “further engagements”, the government said.
The South African government has been negotiating hard to avoid the tariffs, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, which it says could cost around 30,000 jobs.
The presidents’ telephone call on Wednesday was about bilateral trade matters, Ramaphosa’s office said.
“The two leaders undertook to continue with further engagements recognising the various trade negotiations the US is currently involved in,” it said in a statement.
“Respective trade negotiating teams will take forward more detailed discussions.”
Ramaphosa “reached out through a phone call to President Trump yesterday morning as part of bolstering South Africa’s negotiation efforts on the trade agreements,” the minister in the presidency said separately.
Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told journalists that Ramaphosa “has been committed to reaching a deal as quick as possible”.
South Africa’s failure to reach a new trade deal has been criticised at home, including by parties in the coalition government which have accused Ramaphosa and his team of diplomatic missteps.
The two nations have been at odds for months over a range of domestic and international policies, including criticism by Trump of South African laws meant to redress racial inequalities that linger 30 years after the end of apartheid.
“We need to be very clear that the transformation agenda of the country is non-negotiable,” minister Ntshavheni said.
“If any laws have to be changed, they will be changed in the interests of South Africa and its prosperity.”
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told AFP this week that relations between the two nations had “reached a low”, with Washington attempting to “interfere” in domestic issues.
But political disagreements had not come up in trade talks with the United States, Lamola said in the interview, adding that Pretoria had done “everything possible under the sun” to reach a deal.
The United States is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner by country after China.
The tariffs will in particular hit South Africa’s agriculture, automotive and textiles sectors, although 35 percent of exports are exempted, including copper, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, lumber articles and certain critical minerals.
