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Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen speaks in Parliament.
Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has expressed concern over South Africa’s diplomatic standoff with the United States.
This follows an executive order by United States President Donald Trump halting all aid to the country citing claims of race-based discrimination against Afrikaners in regard to the Expropriation Act.
He also tasked government officials to prioritise the resettlement of Afrikaners through the United States Refugee Admissions Programme.
VIDEO | Some US officials have announced that they will not attend the G20:
A high-powered delegation is said to be heading to America to discuss possible compromises, which has been welcomed by Steenhuisen.
“ America is one of our largest markets and I think that we need to be doing everything we can to mend the fences there as quickly as possible. The reality is, the people who will suffer as a result of any particular tariffs or kicking us out of AGOA will be farmers and farm workers, manufacturers and factory workers. I think we’ve had 20 years of some bad decisions made and some poor policy choices at an international level, however, this is a new government. We can fix those by putting in new reforms, new policies and approaches.”
VIDEO | Some analysts think the stand-off should encourage SA to be self-reliant:
