The United States has widened its trade measures, announcing a new round of tariffs on imports from 60 countries, including South Africa.
The tariffs come into effect this Friday and are expected to have significant implications for global trade, while adding pressure to relations between Washington and several of its trading partners.
The new measures replace a temporary 10 per cent global tariff introduced earlier this year after the US Supreme Court ruled that previous emergency tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump were unlawful.
The decision comes at an already difficult moment in Pretoria’s relationship with the Trump administration.
South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition argued that it should not be subject to the new tariffs because it already had robust laws prohibiting forced labour, has ratified the International Labour Organisation’s core conventions, and has enforcement mechanisms to prevent goods produced with forced labour from entering its supply chains.
The Trump administration says the tariffs are designed to protect American workers. Still, critics argue the measures are viewed as its latest effort to preserve its broader protectionist trade agenda after the courts blocked its earlier approach.
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