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The South African
10-07-2025
- Business
- The South African
Trump's tariffs will hurt the same SA farmers he claimed to support
American president Donald Trump, who recently backed South African farmers, is now imposing tariffs that will affect their livelihoods. Trump recently amplified (false) claims of persecution against white South Africans, and authorised a refugee resettlement program for Afrikaner farmers. For those farmers that remain in South Africa, Trump now finds his trade policies on a collision course with their livelihoods. A 30% tariff on key exports, including citrus, wine, sugar cane, and beef, will take effect on 1 August, ending the duty-free access South Africa enjoyed under the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA). Back in April, Trump instituted 30% tariffs on South Africa for all goods imported into America. After facing significant backlash, Trump hit pause on the tariffs for 90 days. Critical US-SA trade talks, including a diplomatic visit by SA president Cyril Ramaphosa to the White House, yielded little progress. On Monday this week, the US president confirmed that he would be subjecting imports from South Africa to the 30% tariff. 'It doesn't make sense to us to welcome South African farmers in America and then the rest that stays behind, to punish them,' Krisjan Mouton, an established citrus farmer in Citrusdal, told Reuters . 'It's going to have a huge impact…it's not profitable to export anymore to the USA.' South Africa is the world's second-largest citrus exporter after Spain. The industry earns around $100 million annually from the US market. Though the US accounts for only 6% of total citrus exports from SA, many farms are built around meeting America's specific size and phytosanitary standards. It makes finding new markets a logistical nightmare, while increasing shipments to other countries may cause an oversupply. Industry leaders have also argued that SA citrus has never competed with US production, but has rather complemented it. 'South African citrus growers do not threaten US citrus growers or US jobs,' said Citrus Growers Association (CGA) chairperson Gerrit van der Merwe. 'In fact, our produce sustains interest and demand for citrus when local US citrus is out of season, eventually benefitting US growers when we hand over consumers at the end of our season.' The new 30% tariff will now remove South Africa's favoured trade status, making South African citrus uncompetitive compared to fruit from South America and Australia. While three-quarters of South Africa's freehold land is white-owned, they will not be the only casualties. Thousands of farmworkers and fruit packers could be laid off too. 'A 30% tariff would wreak havoc on all communities that have, for decades, focused on producing specifically for the US market,' said CGA chief executive Boitshoko Ntshabele. In Citrusdal alone, the CGA estimates that up to 35 000 jobs are on the line. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
TimesLIVE
10-07-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Trump tariffs create national disaster for tiny Lesotho
When Limpho Lefalatsa first learnt she had lost her job at a Lesotho garment factory after 12 years due to US President Donald Trump's decision to hit her tiny African homeland with a crippling tariff on its exports, she was in shock. 'I thought I was going insane. It made no sense,' the 29-year-old said at her house in the capital Maseru. 'When the truth started sinking in, I felt so helpless.' Lefalatsa's monthly factory wage of about R3,000 had supported herself, sent her 12-year-old daughter to school and paid for the blood pressure medicine her elderly grandmother needs to survive. Now that income is gone, and she still does not understand why. She's not alone. When Trump announced tariffs on imports for nearly all of the US' trading partners in April, the Southern African mountain kingdom of Lesotho was singled out for the highest rate: 50%. Lesotho officials were baffled, not least since their country, which Trump disparaged as a nation 'nobody has ever heard of', was the poster child of a flagship US programme aimed at helping poor African economies develop through trade. The Trump administration has defended the tariffs as reciprocal, saying that Lesotho charges 99% tariffs on US goods. Lesotho officials say they do not know how the White House arrived at that figure. The US state department did not immediately respond to a written request for comment. Lesotho's textiles sector, its leading export industry, is heavily dependent on the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act, a US trade initiative that offers qualifying African nations duty-free access to the US market. On the back of that preferential tariff treatment, Lesotho developed a textiles sector that, until now, was the biggest private employer with some 40,000 jobs and accounted for roughly 90% of manufacturing exports, according to Oxford Economics. Exports to the US under AGOA, including Levi and Wrangler jeans from a textile sector that largely employs women like Lefalatsa, make up a tenth of Lesotho's $2bn GDP. That now looks set to disappear. This week Lesotho declared a national state of disaster due to the 'high rates of youth unemployment and job losses' caused by uncertainty surrounding the tariffs. CANCELLED ORDERS, MASS LAYOFFS 'You can see there are no people here,' said Teboho Kobeli, owner of Afri-Expo, which makes jeans for export, gesturing towards rows of unmanned sewing machines at his factory. While Trump suspended application of his tariff barrage for three months just days after his so-called 'Liberation Day' announcement to give trading partners time to negotiate deals with Washington, in Lesotho the damage was already done. The simple prospect of a 50% tariff caused many US importers to cancel orders, leading, in turn, to mass sector-wide layoffs. And what orders still exist now bear more risk than reward. 'Employers ... are just scared of taking more orders lest they plunge themselves into costs they are not ready to service,' independent political and economic analyst Lefu Thaela told Reuters. The White House has yet to announce its final tariff on imports from Lesotho. Trump's 90-day suspension was due to expire on Wednesday. But factory owners like Kobeli, who has dismissed 200 workers from his US-focused production lines, fear the worst. 'If we still have these high tariffs, it means we must forget about producing for the US and go as fast as we can ... (looking for) other available markets,' he said. A spokesperson for Lesotho's trade ministry declined to comment until the government receives official communication from the Trump administration. However, others, like retrenched garment worker Nteboheleng Hlapane, have a message for the US president. 'I just pray to God that he touches your soul,' said the 37-year-old, who can no longer afford the inhaler her son needs to treat his asthma. 'Think about other people ... They are suffering because of your selfishness, your cruelty.'
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US tariffs on South Africa set to hit white farmers Trump has embraced
By Wendell Roelf CITRUSDAL, South Africa (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's threatened 30% tariff on South African exports is set to deal an economic blow to a community he has vocally and controversially championed: white farmers. Citing false claims that white South Africans are being persecuted, Trump has cut aid to the country, publicly berated its president in the Oval Office and invited Afrikaners - descendants of early European settlers - to come to the United States as refugees. But for white farmers who remain rooted in their homeland and aspire to keep making a living from the land, the tariffs due to come into effect on August 1 are an assault on those ambitions. "It doesn't make sense to us to welcome South African farmers in America and then the rest that stays behind ... to punish them," said Krisjan Mouton, a sixth-generation farmer in Western Cape province's citrus heartland. "It's going to have a huge impact," he said, standing among rows of trees heavy with navel oranges on his farm near the town of Citrusdal. "It's not profitable to export anymore to the USA." After a three-month pause, Trump escalated the global trade offensive he launched in April, announcing tariffs on more than a dozen countries on Monday, including South Africa. Its citrus fruit, along with wine, soybeans, sugar cane and beef, had previously benefited from duty-free access to the U.S. under the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act. Helped by that trade initiative, South Africa, the world's second-largest citrus exporter after Spain, generates $100 million annually from the U.S. market. The new tariff ends that preferential treatment. And with three-quarters of South Africa's freehold land white-owned, white farmers will face the immediate economic fallout though they will not be the only casualties. Boitshoko Ntshabele, chief executive of the Citrus Growers' Association of Southern Africa (CGA) said the levy will hurt all South African farmers and farm workers, no matter their race. "A 30% tariff would wreak havoc on communities that have, for decades, focused on producing specifically for the U.S. market," he said. 'FARMERS WILL GO BANKRUPT' Its location in the Southern Hemisphere means South Africa produces citrus at times of the year when the U.S. doesn't, with its exports giving U.S. consumers year-round access to fruit. While the United States accounts for only around 6% of South Africa's citrus exports, some farming areas produce specifically for the U.S. market. Redirecting produce grown for the U.S. to other markets is not simple, as size and plant health requirements vary from country to country. Nestled in a valley in Western Cape's rugged Cederberg mountains, Mouton's family farm employs 21 permanent workers, and nearly triple that number during peak picking season. The CGA has said about 35,000 jobs are at risk in Citrusdal alone, as the tariffs risk making South African citrus uncompetitive compared to fruit from Peru, Chile, and Australia. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said trade talks with Washington will continue and argued that the 30% rate was based on an inaccurate understanding of the two countries' trade. In the meantime though, the CGA wants to speed up an expansion of exports to new markets including China and India. High tariffs in some countries and stringent plant health requirements in the European Union, for example, make that a complicated prospect, however. Not far from Mouton's farm, workers are carrying on as usual, for now, sorting and packing fruit at the 14,000-square-metre Goede Hoop Citrus warehouse. But if the 30% levy remains in place, that won't last long, managing director Andre Nel told Reuters. "Farmers will go bankrupt. For sure there would be job losses within our sector," he said. "I don't even want to think about it." ($1 = 17.8568 rand)
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US tariffs on South Africa set to hit white farmers Trump has embraced
By Wendell Roelf CITRUSDAL, South Africa (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's threatened 30% tariff on South African exports is set to deal an economic blow to a community he has vocally and controversially championed: white farmers. Citing false claims that white South Africans are being persecuted, Trump has cut aid to the country, publicly berated its president in the Oval Office and invited Afrikaners - descendants of early European settlers - to come to the United States as refugees. But for white farmers who remain rooted in their homeland and aspire to keep making a living from the land, the tariffs due to come into effect on August 1 are an assault on those ambitions. "It doesn't make sense to us to welcome South African farmers in America and then the rest that stays behind ... to punish them," said Krisjan Mouton, a sixth-generation farmer in Western Cape province's citrus heartland. "It's going to have a huge impact," he said, standing among rows of trees heavy with navel oranges on his farm near the town of Citrusdal. "It's not profitable to export anymore to the USA." After a three-month pause, Trump escalated the global trade offensive he launched in April, announcing tariffs on more than a dozen countries on Monday, including South Africa. Its citrus fruit, along with wine, soybeans, sugar cane and beef, had previously benefited from duty-free access to the U.S. under the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act. Helped by that trade initiative, South Africa, the world's second-largest citrus exporter after Spain, generates $100 million annually from the U.S. market. The new tariff ends that preferential treatment. And with three-quarters of South Africa's freehold land white-owned, white farmers will face the immediate economic fallout though they will not be the only casualties. Boitshoko Ntshabele, chief executive of the Citrus Growers' Association of Southern Africa (CGA) said the levy will hurt all South African farmers and farm workers, no matter their race. "A 30% tariff would wreak havoc on communities that have, for decades, focused on producing specifically for the U.S. market," he said. 'FARMERS WILL GO BANKRUPT' Its location in the Southern Hemisphere means South Africa produces citrus at times of the year when the U.S. doesn't, with its exports giving U.S. consumers year-round access to fruit. While the United States accounts for only around 6% of South Africa's citrus exports, some farming areas produce specifically for the U.S. market. Redirecting produce grown for the U.S. to other markets is not simple, as size and plant health requirements vary from country to country. Nestled in a valley in Western Cape's rugged Cederberg mountains, Mouton's family farm employs 21 permanent workers, and nearly triple that number during peak picking season. The CGA has said about 35,000 jobs are at risk in Citrusdal alone, as the tariffs risk making South African citrus uncompetitive compared to fruit from Peru, Chile, and Australia. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said trade talks with Washington will continue and argued that the 30% rate was based on an inaccurate understanding of the two countries' trade. In the meantime though, the CGA wants to speed up an expansion of exports to new markets including China and India. High tariffs in some countries and stringent plant health requirements in the European Union, for example, make that a complicated prospect, however. Not far from Mouton's farm, workers are carrying on as usual, for now, sorting and packing fruit at the 14,000-square-metre Goede Hoop Citrus warehouse. But if the 30% levy remains in place, that won't last long, managing director Andre Nel told Reuters. "Farmers will go bankrupt. For sure there would be job losses within our sector," he said. "I don't even want to think about it." ($1 = 17.8568 rand)
TimesLIVE
22-05-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Ramaphosa's US coup: Trump commits to trade engagements
President Cyril Ramaphosa has assurance from US President Donald Trump that he will consider attending the G20 leaders' summit later this year. Ramaphosa held a media briefing with the South African press following a tense visit to the White House, which he managed to de-escalate as Trump accused the South African government of persecuting and taking land from white South Africans. Despite contentious debate and tensions stoked by false claims of genocide during the televised meeting between the two heads of state, Ramaphosa said the topic did not feature in the closed-door meeting, which included lunch. Instead, the two leaders engaged on regional conflicts in Africa and Eastern Europe as well as trade relations. However, the two leaders did not touch on Israel and South Africa's case at the International Court of Justice. 'So I was rather pleased that there's a firm agreement and undertaking to continue engaging. That was one of the key outcomes that we had wanted. "Our objective in coming here was to reset relations between the two countries and to reposition our relations, which had become contaminated by some of the issues that had been raised during the engagement, or what many people thought was also contaminating relations, for instance, the ICJ case and Ukraine, Russia and all that,' Ramaphosa said. He said while Trump raised concerns about white South Africans, 'in the discussions over lunch, we didn't dwell on that issue'. He said Trump asked how the US could assist South Africa. The delegation pointed to more investments from the US. He said team South Africa told the Trump delegates they required a more positive disposition from the US, which would unlock investment. 'We want to keep the jobs that we have, that have been created by US companies. And we want more and more US companies to come and invest,' he said. Ramaphosa said part of the talks included the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act, which has been nullified by Trump's punitive tariffs. His biggest takeaway was Trump's commitment to consider attending the G20 summit, telling journalists that he stressed to the US president that it would be important to the success of the summit. 'And I said, he needs to be there. I don't want to hand over the presidency of the G20 to an empty chair, I want to hand it over to him sitting in that chair in November … The G20 would be more impactful on global matters with the participation of the largest economy in the world. 'So my takeaway is that G20 participation by the US is going to be happening,' he said. He said the South African government had managed to start resetting their relations with the US government and that ministers would begin to engage with one another over trade relations.
