Minister of international relations and co-operation minister Ronald Lamola and trade and industry Parks Tau called for reform and the reinforcement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after United States of America President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs, saying all nations need to abide by the rules of global trade.
The tariffs, including 31% on US imports from South Africa, “will significantly disrupt trade across the board”, Tau told journalists on Friday.
They also effectively nullify the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) deal that provides beneficial duty-free access for products from about 30 sub-Saharan African countries, he said.
AGOA is up for renewal in September.
The systems of the WTO “have not been considered” in the fixing of the US tariffs, Tau said.
“We are advocating for a reform of the World Trade Organisation and ensuring that it’s able to adapt to current reality, but also ensuring that we’re able to reinforce a multilateral system of trade and transparency across the borders,” Tau said.
South Africa holds the rotating presidency of the G20 group of leading economies this year.
Tau said the new tariffs, which range from 10% to 50% on US trading partners, showed the “need for us to collectively work towards the multilateral trading system so that everybody knows the rules”.
“It must be that nations meet and arrive at a common set of rules and work on the basis of that common set of rules,” he said.
“That’s why the World Trade Organisation-related system is so important.”
“It is not just in our interest as a smaller country, a developing economy, but it’s also in the interest of developed countries to ensure that all of us know the rules.”
Tau said the government was seeking clarification from the United States on how the tariff of 31% for South Africa was reached.
It will affect several sectors of the economy, including automotive industry and agriculture, “with implications for jobs and growth”, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said.
The United States represented 7.45% of South Africa’s total exports in 2024, while South Africa accounted for only 0.4% of US total imports, he said.
“As such, South Africa does not constitute a threat” to the United States, he said.