Wesgro, the Western Cape provincial trade, investment and tourism promotion agency, has warned those provincial businesses that export to the US that there is still a lot of uncertainly about how US President Donald Trump‘s Executive Order imposing new, so-called reciprocal, tariffs on all his country’s trading partners would be interpreted. These reciprocal tariffs would come into effect on Wednesday (April 9).

For South Africa, these reciprocal tariffs have been set at 30%. On its webpage, “FAQ: Navigating United States Tariffs”, Wesgro stated that it was currently likely that this 30% tariff would be imposed in addition to any existing tariffs on South African exports to the US.

The agency noted that the Executive Order exempted certain major South African exports to the US. These included critical minerals, certain base metals, precious metals, platinum group metals, and chemicals. But some of these could face sector-specific tariffs in future.

Wesgro also noted that if a product being exported to the US had 20% or more American content, then the reciprocal tariff would apply only to the non-American content.

Further, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) remained in force. But it was assumed that the new tariffs would be imposed on top of whatever preferential rates South African companies had enjoyed when exporting to the US under Agoa. It remained unclear if South African exporters could still claim an Agoa preference for the basic most-favoured-nation/general tariff.

In all cases, the tariffs would not apply to any goods loaded on to a ship, or in transit on the final transport mode en route to the US, before the effective date for the tariffs. Nor would they apply to goods “entered for production or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption” after the tariff effective date.

It was unclear how long these reciprocal tariffs would remain in force.

“According to the White House Executive Order, the tariff rates may also be increased or decreased depending upon actions taken by foreign governments,” pointed out Wesgro. “This, therefore, leaves room for negotiation with individual trading partners and revisions to each country’s specific rate. Thus, according to the Order, if South Africa takes ‘significant steps to remedy’ some of the US concerns, the US President may decrease the tariff or limit it in scope. If South Africa retaliates against US exports, the US President may increase the tariff or expand it in scope.”