South Africa faces foreign policy, trade challenges under Trump's administration

Foreign policy expert warns that 30% tariff imposed by the US is likely the first in a series of actions

- SIPHELELE DLUDLA

US FOREIGN policy expert Michael Walsh has warned that the 30% tariff imposed on South African imports by the United States was likely the first in a series of actions that will be taken against South Africa by the Trump Administration over the next year.

This comes as US President Donald Trump this week slapped South Africa with 30% tariffs on “any and all South African products sent into the United States” from August 1 “to correct the unsustainable trade deficits” against the US.

Walsh - a nonresident senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, an American think tank based in Pennsylvania - said on Wednesday that Trump was going to take more retaliatory actions against South Africa for misalignment with US national security and foreign policy interests before the end of the year.

These actions, according to Walsh, could even include economic sanctions, travel restrictions, visa bans, and counterterrorism investigations.

Walsh said the Trump Administration has made a public commitment to promoting prosperity through reciprocal trade and using economic coercion against those undermining US national security and foreign policy interests.

He said the imposition of an additional ad valorem rate of duty was entirely consistent with following through on those commitments.