By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa is considering a revised trade deal from the US and is hopeful it can agree terms that will ease the impact of 30% tariff imposed by the Trump administration, president Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa was speaking to the media after his participation in the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday.
He dispatched a negotiating team to Washington to try and get the levies lowered on the country’s exports to the US.
The US is Pretoria’s second-largest trading partner after China, and Trump’s tariffs, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, could hammer South African sales of vehicles and agricultural products, including citrus and wine, to the world’s largest economy.
South Africa received a further blow this week when Taiwan — citing national security concerns — restricted its ability to buy microchips. That was an unusual move by Taiwan to use its dominance of the semiconductor market to pressure South Africa over its close alliance with China.
The decision came after Pretoria sought to downgrade Taipei’s representative office and force it to relocate to Johannesburg from the capital, Taiwan’s foreign ministry has said.
Cabinet Reshuffle
Ramaphosa has warned the Democratic Alliance (DA) that it cannot unilaterally remove any of the party’s ministers or deputy ministers.
He said, the president has the sole prerogative to appoint ministers and deputy ministers.
The ANC and DA are in a coalition government, which was formed less than a year ago after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority in elections for the first time since 1994.
“They have to come to me, and I have to agree,” said Ramaphosa.
“In the end, as president, I’m the one who appoints ministers, I have the last word.”
The mooted changes come as the DA prepares to hold its federal congress in April 2026, where Steenhuisen is expected to make himself available for re-election as party leader.
Israel/Gaza war
Ramaphosa is concerned that Israel has ‘completely ignored’ the rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but the atrocities must come to an end.
“It is a matter of concern to us that the state of Israel, aided and abetted by other governments, has just completely ignored the rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the very countries that talk about adherence to the rule of law are the ones who are actually trashing the notion of the rule of law; who are disregarding the rule of law, “Ramaphosa said.
Last Thursday, the US once again vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution that would have demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages, and that Israel lift restrictions on aid to Palestinians, saying it did not go far enough in condemning Hamas.
The 14 other UN Security Council members voted in favour of the resolution. It was the sixth time the US had cast a veto in the Security Council over Israel’s 23-month military campaign in Gaza.
Israel’s assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 65,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 160,000, and the deepening humanitarian crisis in the enclave have been among the pressing issues discussed by world leaders who gathered in New York.
South Africa filed an application at the ICJ in December 2023, asking the court to declare that Israel was in violation of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Ramaphosa told reporters that South Africa would continue to push for a ceasefire, and that it was “hoping that the International Court of Justice and its rulings will declare such”.
“As much as they’re maybe ignored, in the end it is very much like what the apartheid government did. It was resolution, after resolution, after resolution that came to the United Nations, but in the end, the chickens did come home to roost. The apartheid system had to come to an end, and even the atrocities that are being committed in Gaza will and must come to an end,” said Ramaphosa.
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