Steenhuisen gravely concerned about impact of US 30% tariff import on country's exports
Delivering his budget speech in Parliament on Tuesday, Steenhuisen, however, said there’s still time for government to negotiate a more favourable deal before the first of August implementation date.
Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen delivering his budget vote address in the Good Hope Chamber of Parliament on 8 July 2025. Picture: Parliament/Phando Jikelo
CAPE TOWN - Agriculture Minister, John Steenhuisen, says he’s gravely concerned about the impact that the United States' (US's) 30% tariff import increase will have on the country’s exports.
He said the announcement by US President Donald Trump on Monday almost certainly spells the end of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) under which the country has, until now, enjoyed duty-free exports to the US for over 6,000 products.
READ: Trump set to impose 30% tariff on all SA goods
Delivering his budget speech in Parliament on Tuesday, Steenhuisen, however, said there’s still time for the government to negotiate a more favourable deal before the first of August implementation date.
Steenhuisen said the agriculture sector is particularly exposed in the areas of citrus, wine, nuts and table grapes.
“Now more than ever, it highlights the need for urgent reform in South Africa so that we can ensure that our economy can meet the requirement of our trading partners around the world, and I look forward to working with Minister [Parks] Tau and others in the coming weeks to urgently seek a way through this impasse, and to ensure we can avoid the 30% tariff for our agriculture sector.”