Ramaphosa holds trade call with Trump

South Africa’s Presidency announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa held a telephone discussion with US President Donald Trump on 6 August 2025.

This discussion took place the day before the United States imposed 30% tariffs on products imported from South Africa.

The Presidency said Ramaphosa had a call with Trump yesterday morning on bilateral trade matters.

“The two leaders undertook to continue with further engagements, recognising the various trade negotiations the United States is currently involved in,” the Presidency said.

It added that respective trade negotiating teams will take forward more detailed discussions between South Africa and the United States.

This statement was made hours after the 30% tariff on South African goods imported into the United States took effect.

These tariffs are expected to have a significant impact on South Africa’s economy, particularly the agricultural and manufacturing industries.

This was all expected. Last week, on 1 August 2025, the United States White House confirmed that South African exports will be slapped with a 30% tariff on 7 August 2025.

This started with US President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ announcements on 2 April 2025, where he outlined all the countries set to be hit with higher tariffs.

However, following this announcement, the US President decided to pause these tariffs for 90 days to allow affected countries to broker a deal.

On Monday, 7 July 2025, Trump unveiled a wave of letters that threatened to impose higher duties on American trading partners.

However, he indicated that he was open to discussions with affected countries on the increased tariffs until at least 1 August.

Therefore, South Africa and many other countries worldwide have been in talks with the United States to negotiate a softer tariff policy.

The 1 August 2025 deadline has come and gone, with the White House confirming in an Executive Order on that day that South Africa will receive a 30% tariff starting 7 August.

On 7 August, Trump announced via his social media platform, “It’s midnight! Billions of dollars in tariffs are now flowing into the United States of America!”

From today, levies will be imposed on dozens of countries, including South Africa, which is expected to have devastating consequences for the country’s economy.