Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau said he’s confident that a new tariff deal will be reached with the United States government in the next two to three weeks.
This after what he described as positive talks that he held with US States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, in Washington DC.
Tau said the meeting was held as part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s directive to strengthen economic ties with South Africa’s key trade partner.
According to Tau, the meeting, which followed three days of technical discussions between senior officials from both sides, focused on priority issues in the bilateral trade relationship.
Tau and Greer agreed on a roadmap to guide future engagements towards concluding ongoing processes.
“We have received a draft document on this basis since the negotiations have started.
We’ve had the opportunity through our teams to go literally line by line into the discussion and the document that the US had provided us.
Based on those discussions, and feedback, and engagement I had with the US trade representative, we were able to agree that a revised tax would be provided to South Africa early in the next week,” said Tau.
The minister highlighted that this would then offer both parties time to consult with their sister departments, and other stakeholders to prepare a response.
Tau said he’s encouraged by the progress made thus far, especially following months of tensions between the two countries.
“Then the negotiations would then start in earnest, we do anticipate that this would be taking place in the next two to three weeks, as soon as we’ve given a response, we can then agree on the process of engaging in the negotiations.
I should say that I’m encouraged by the progress we’re making.
We have the potential to reach an agreement that would be mutually beneficial with the US government and we would be able to facilitate investments,” explained Tau.
Furthermore, Tau said he’ll brief President Cyril Ramaphosa, who’s in New York attending the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, on the outcomes of the discussions and will then engage various stakeholders.
Tau said he’ll remain in the US, to support Ramaphosa in trade-related engagements with American stakeholders, including members of Congress.
According to the department, the US is South Africa’s second-largest trading partner, with total trade reaching $15.1 billion in 2024.
South Africa exported goods worth $8.2 billion to the US last year, while imports from the US stood at $6.9 billion.
More than 600 US companies operate in South Africa, while over 22 South African firms are based in the US.
