By Anathi Madubela.
South Africa may need to revise its proposed Framework Deal with the United States, which advocates for key tariff exemptions on exports such as vehicles, steel, and aluminium, following US plans to introduce a standardised trade engagement template for sub-Saharan Africa.
This emerged during a meeting in Luanda on 24 June 2025 between Deputy Trade Minister Zuko Godlimpi and US Assistant Trade Representative Connie Hamilton that was held on the sidelines of the US-Africa Summit.
For this meeting, the South African negotiating team aimed to thrash out the details of South Africa’s proposed framework agreement, which includes ramping up liquid natural gas imports, a joint fund for the exploration of critical minerals and duty-free US quotas for the auto and steel industries.
Proposed Framework Deal
The meeting comes after South Africa submitted a proposed Framework Deal with the US on 20 May, which outlines measures to enhance mutually beneficial trade and investment relations with the US.
The submission of the Framework Deal was immediately followed by an engagement between President Cyril Ramaphosa and President Donald Trump in Washington on 21 May.
The Framework Deal also aims to resolve long-standing market access issues that both sides are interested in and to promote bilateral investments in a mutually beneficial manner.
South Africa is behind countries including India and the UK in negotiating a trade deal with the US, making it unlikely that the parties will reach an agreement by the 9 July deadline, when tariffs will triple from the current 10%.
Trade-matters template
In the Luanda session with Hamilton, one of the key issues that emerged was that the US is developing a trade-matters template to be the basis for its engagements with countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
It was advised that the template would be shared as soon as it had gone through the internal approval processes within the US Administration. According to the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition, South Africa welcomed this indication and expressed a preparedness to engage with the template once it was finalised.
Given this development, African countries, including South Africa, have advocated for extending the 90-day deadline to enable countries to prepare their proposed deals per the new template.
“We urge the South African industry to exercise strategic patience and not take decisions in haste and that Government will continue to use every avenue to engage the US Government to find amicable solutions to safeguard South African interests in the US market,” said the Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau.