South Africa is working on ways to mitigate job losses after US tariffs

Africa’s biggest economy faces a 30% tariff on its exports to the US starting this week, a move expected to cost tens of thousands of jobs

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South Africa is working on ways to mitigate job losses caused by steep US tariffs and is considering exempting exporters from some competition rules to support them, its trade and foreign ministers said on Monday.

Africa's biggest economy faces a 30 percent tariff on its exports to the US starting this week, a move expected to cost tens of thousands of jobs after it failed to secure a trade deal before a deadline set by US President Donald Trump.

Trump last Thursday issued an executive order imposing higher import duties on dozens of countries that are set to take effect in seven days as part of his push to reshape global trade in favour of the United States.

“South Africa poses no trade threat to the US economy nor its national security,” the trade and foreign ministers said in a joint statement.

“The calculation of US-SA ‘trade deficit’ ignores the substantial US trade surplus in services, as well as the complementary nature of the bilateral trade and investment relations between the two countries.”

Measures to cushion the impact of job losses could involve the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the government statement said.

The statement said a “block exemption” from competition rules was being developed to enable collaboration and coordination by competitors.