PRETORIA
South Africa on Monday said it poses “no trade threat” to the US economy and its national security.
South Africa aims to strike deals that support value addition and industrialization, “rather than extractive relations that deprive the country of the ability to beneficiate our mineral wealth by mimicking extractive colonial era trade relations,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
The statement said South African exports do not compete with US producers but rather complement them, providing “crucial” industrial inputs and counter-seasonal agricultural goods that fill market gaps without displacing domestic products.
South Africa is not only a trading partner, but a major investor in the US, with its companies supporting US jobs, while over 600 American firms in South Africa boost industrial growth and employment, it highlighted.
The statement said the US-South Africa trade deficit calculation overlooks US services surplus and the complementary nature of their trade and investment ties.
“Our goal is to preserve and grow these mutually beneficial relationships,” it added.
Starting Aug. 8, the US, South Africa’s third-largest trading partner after the EU and China, will impose unilateral 30% tariffs on South African imports.
Stressing the changing international trading system and the need for resilience, President Cyril Ramaphosa warned that “complacency will not serve” South Africa.
“As government, we remain committed to ongoing engagement with the US and building trade resilience,” he said in a statement.
South Africa must adapt to “increasingly turbulent headwinds” in global trade, Ramaphosa urged.
