South African Govt Intervening to Cushion Blow of Harsh US Tariffs on Local Businesses - Ramaphosa

The announcement on possible aid for South African exporters comes as Pretoria continues to negotiate with Washington for more favourable trade terms.

President Cyril Ramaphosa. Picture: Simphiwe Nkosi/EWN.

JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government is working on a set of interventions to cushion the blow of the harsh US tariffs on local businesses.

The announcement on possible aid for South African exporters comes as Pretoria continues to negotiate with Washington for more favourable trade terms.

Goods entering the US from South Africa face a 30% duty.

US President Donald Trump signed a fresh executive order on Thursday, modifying some reciprocal tariff rates initially set out on April 2nd.

The new order takes effect in a week’s time, on 7 August.

Presidency concerned about new Trump tariffs

In it, Trump said, “Some trading partners have agreed to, or are on the verge of agreeing to, meaningful trade and security commitments with the United States, thus signalling their sincere intentions to permanently remedy the trade barriers.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa said that while horse trading continues behind closed doors, South Africa is already considering interventions for affected industries.

“We’re going to support our companies through negotiations, but also, there are other interventions we are working on to cushion the blow to our companies. Our objective is to save jobs; we want to preserve jobs for those companies that are going to be adversely affected.”

Agriculture, especially citrus and the automotive sector, is among those expected to take the hardest knock, while some products remain on a list of exemptions, including some mining commodities.

Additional multimedia reporting by EWN's Simphiwe Nkosi