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A worker seen at a farm.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has warned that the 31% tariffs imposed on South Africa by the US pose challenges for the Agriculture Industry and could jeopardise thousands of jobs across the sector.
The Trump administration’s global import tariffs have come into effect. The US has imposed tariffs on more than 180 countries.
Steenhuisen has described the US tariffs on South Africa as unfortunate.
He was briefing the media in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal, during a campaign ahead of a by-election.
“I think the tariffs are unfortunate. I think the method of calculation is also not correct. I think the method used to get us to the 30% mark is relying on statistics that are not actually linked to the trade deficit. I think it’s unfortunate because it’s going to put South Africa’s agricultural products and automotive manufacturing under huge pressure, and the people who will bear the cost of that are not the politicians making the decisions, but farmers and farm workers. It’s going to be people with factory jobs.”
The DA leader also added that the party remains committed to the Government of National Unity (GNU) after a fallout over the African National Congress’ (ANC) decision to support the VAT tax increase proposed by the Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his budget.
The DA voted against the 2025 national budget and has launched a legal challenge against the implementation of the VAT hike.
