African countries prepare for impact when Trump announces more rates

Johannesburg, South Africa -The African countries had been preparing bad news and struggle for last -minute negotiations before The announcement of President Trump of the rates on Thursday night.

South Africa, who has had a Tense relationship with Mr. Trumpis the only African country indicated in the announcement with an increase in the 30% rate on August 7. Most other African countries have been beaten with 10-15%tariffs.

South Africa’s Minister of Commerce, Parks Tau, said that he, other ministers and people in all sectors, from business to civil society, had been working for months to negotiate an agreement with Washington, including the offer to invest $ 3.3 billion in US industries and buy natural gas, but there was no response.

“My opinion, we have released all the stops, sending ministers from several departments, commercial delegations and unions to completely address the concerns of the United States,” Tau said.

He said there was no response to his initial offer until Wednesday night, when US officials told them to improve their offer in a last minute appeal.

“We do not have an agreement, we talked last night (Wednesday) and indicated that they could not confirm what the announcement would be and encouraged us to present an improved proposal that would be presented to the White House,” Tau said.

In a statement on Thursday night, Tau said: “We are working urgently and resolve implement real and practical interventions that defend jobs and position South Africa competitively in a changing global panorama.”

In neighboring Lesotho, the government declared an emergency after the statement in April that the United States would impose a 50%rate, the highest in the world. The threat of tariffs had devastating effects that reverberated through the small mountain kingdom of just over 2 million people. The notice occurred only months after American aid financing cuts and now the threat of tariffs meant that many garments companies closed their doors or reduced their staff to part -time in the following months.

Lesotho is often known as the “capital of denim of Africa”, since it is where Levi and other brands are manufactured, as well as other textiles for companies such as Jcpenney, Walmart and Costco.

The Aphric Growth and Opportunities Law (AUGA), created in 2000 as part of the “Commerce does not help” philosophy, gives some 35 countries in the African countries free access to the United States for their assets. The textile industry, the country’s main employer, which provides up to 50000 jobs, has had a commercial surplus with the US. In recent years. This is the reason why some economists believe that Trump highlighted Lesotho for strong tariffs.

Going to Congress in March, Trump was listing the global cuts that he called a wasteful expense and cited Lesoth as an African nation “nobody has heard speak.” His words reverberated throughout the country and began months of diplomacy that culminated in several concessions, including the will to accept deportees of the United States, as well as other financial incentives that probably helped review the massive mass tariffs.

The majority of African countries will have a 10-15% rate imposed, but will remain concerned as the deadline of September to renew the approaches to the African growth and opportunities law. Some analysts believe Mr. Trump will cancel it. Losing free admission to the US will mean that all goods now exported under the tax free of Agaa will be subject to rates and significantly affect the economic growth of these countries. The new tariffs, combined with the loss of exhaus, could see a growing inflation and the depreciation of currencies in these countries, economists warn. It is a success that many countries will have difficulty absorbing.

Analysts are now looking at the G20 in November in South Africa as a possibility of creating new regional and global commercial agreements that the United States does not include.

“I think we get the United States from the G20 for many reasons and get more difficult with Donald Trump to know the collective will, that is the only answer now,” the distinguished professor and director of social change at the University of Johannesburg told News themezone.

Earlier this week, aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that the G20 could skip completely, saying: “I could send someone else because I have had many problems with South Africa, they have very bad policies.”

Mr. Trump has falsely affirmed that the country has laws based on the breedwith the government seizing the land of white farmers. As a result, Trump has offered Refugee status to Afrikaans farmersthat several hundred have already accepted and now live in the United States, the United States government is also discontent with the case of South Africa genocide in the International Criminal Court.

With the announcement on Thursday night of a 30% rate for South Africa, it is clear that political tension between countries now has economic consequences.

The governor of the Bank of the Reserve of South Africa, Lesetja Kganyago, had warned in mid -July that a 30% tariff would mean a loss of 100,000 jobs. Economists warn that the country’s agricultural and automotive industries will be the most affected.

Bond warned that South Africa could face a serious economic crisis if it does not change quickly to diversify its export markets.

“We must diversify export markets and analyze our own infrastructure projects and have massive subsidies for that,” he said. “None of the approaches in our toolbox is working, so we must move on to new options and protect our industries.”

The South African government is concerned that new tariffs generate a lack of confidence in the market, bringing mass jobs and capital flight.

President Cyril Ramaphosa who speaks on Friday to the media for the sworn of a new police minister avoided being caught in a response to tariffs that only say: “We deal with all governments with the required respect and dignity for trade “”.

• Africa
• Duty
• South Africa
• Donald Trump