Does SA have room to negotiate on Trump's 30% tariff? 'We have to think out of the box' says BLSA
US President Donald Trump has informed trade partners that his new hiked taxes take effect on 1 August.
President Ramaphosa in discussions with US Presisent Donald Trump at the White House in Washington D.C, in the United States of America on 21 May 2025. Picture: Elmond Jiyane/GCIS
The Money Show's Stephen Grootes interviews Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership SA.
Is there still room to negotiate before the US administration imposes 30% import tariffs on South African goods on 1 August?
US President Donald Trump sent letters to the heads of countries to inform them of the new rate of 'reciprocal' tariffs, which is up to 40% in some cases.
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At the same time, in response to a question about the deadline, he stated that it was 'firm, but not 100% firm'.
'If they call up and they say they would like to do something a different way, we’re going to be open to that', Trump said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has stood his ground that the data his US counterpart quoted regarding a trade deficit is not an accurate representation of trade between the two countries.
While the situation is still uncertain, given Trump's reputation for changing his mind, BLSA's Busisiwe Mavuso says the important thing is that South Africa does not retaliate.
"We cannot afford to explore retaliatory tariffs. A trade war would be far more damaging to South Africa rather than to the US, so I think we're just going to have to continue from a diplomatic negotiation perspective."
Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO - Business Leadership SA
US officials have been frustrated by what could have been intrpreted as Pretoria not taking the issue seriously enough, she adds.
In this sense, she would agree that Trump's announcement could be seen as a power move to force Pretoria to jump into action and make a more satisfactory offer, Mavuso says.
"Remember, we got to the table late, and what we offered was perhaps not enticing enough... US officials had the sense that while everyone has been running to put a trade proposal together, we have just been sitting on our laurels as South Africa."
Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO - Business Leadership SA
Pretoria should also be focusing on our trade with other countries affected by the looming tariff increase, Mavuso says
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