Navigating SA's economic challenges amidst global turbulence - Cosatu

VLADIMIR Lenin famously said, “There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen” The year 2025 is proving to be such a year, not only for South Africa but for the entire world.

- ZINGISWA LOSI

Donald Trump's election as President of the world’s largest economy, the United States, has brought many long-simmering issues for South Africa and its relationship with the US to the forefront, as well as for the US and its relations with the broader global community.

If these issues, from geopolitical tensions to trade, are addressed strategically, they can help unlock badly needed economic growth for South Africa and reduce our staggeringly high unemployment and weak economic growth rates of 41.9% and 1%, respectively.

If handled recklessly, they can inflict unnecessary pain upon the working class and undermine South Africa's hard-won sovereignty and transformation journey.

We are confident that, under the leadership of a government led by President Cyril Ramaphosa and the African National Congress, we can overcome these challenges, just as we have navigated difficult moments in our nation’s history - from the dark days of apartheid to the fraught transition to democracy and, more recently, managing a global pandemic, Covid-19.

The US is South Africa's second-largest trading partner, absorbing 37% of our vehicle exports and large volumes of our agricultural products, as well as clothing, chemicals, jewellery, and other manufactured goods.

The announcement of a possible 30% tariff duty, including a 25% tariff on car exports and a 10% 90-day interim tariff on South African exports to the US, is not a matter to be taken lightly. No exporter can sustain such tariff hikes. Whilst we welcome the pause in tariff increases to a lower 10% rate, even this would make it nearly impossible for agricultural or car exports to remain competitive in the US market.