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Vehicles with containers at Durban port
President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged President Donald Trump’s letter imposing a 30% tariff on South African exports to the US, citing trade imbalances and market restrictions.
U.S. President Trump has posted this letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa in which he explains that South Africa will be charged a tariff of 30% starting on August 1st on any and all products sent to the United States. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/DlMKKJAlzz
— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) July 7, 2025
The South African government contests this interpretation, arguing that the tariffs will harm local manufacturers and exporters who rely heavily on the US market.
Ramaphosa’s administration emphasises long-standing economic and diplomatic ties with the US, positioning the current dispute as a test of mutual cooperation.
“South Africa maintains the 30% reciprocal tariffs is not an accurate representation of available trade data. The President urges government trade negotiations’ teams and South African companies to accelerate their diversification efforts in order to promote better resilience in both global supply chains and the South African economy,” says Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.
The US trade deficit with South Africa last year stood at 8.8 billion dollars.
South Africa was among a number of countries to be issued a tariff letter from President Trump on Monday including Japan, South Korea and Malaysia among others.
Trump said that the letter demonstrated the strength and commitment of the trading relationship despite having a significant trade deficit with South Africa.
Trump said the relationship had been far from reciprocal and that starting August 1st, a 30% tariff would be placed on all South Africa products, separate from all sectoral tariffs. Trump argued that the 30% tariff was far less than what was needed to eliminate the trade deficit between the two countries.
He said they might consider reviewing the tariff imposed were South Africa to open trading markets to the United States and eliminate trade barriers.
