https://newsletter.en.creamermedia.com
Africa
Africa
africa

South African rand softens as traders await tariff updates after Ramaphosa-Trump call

Rand currency

Photo by Reuters

8th August 2025

By: Reuters

  

Font size: - +

The South African rand weakened in early trade on Friday, as investors awaited details of President Cyril Ramaphosa's telephone call with his US counterpart President Donald Trump on bilateral trade.

US imports from South Africa face a 30% duty, the highest rate among Sub-Saharan African countries but Ramaphosa's office said on Thursday that he held a telephone call with Trump and that the two countries' trade negotiating teams will have more detailed talks.

At 0623 GMT the rand traded at 17.7325 against the dollar, 0.1% softer than Thursday's close.

South Africa tried for months but failed to negotiate a trade deal with Washington ahead of Trump's deadline.

"One can only hope that SA can tap into its Bricss alliance to help offset the full impact of US tariffs," said ETM Analytics in a note, referring to a trading bloc consisting of Russia, India, Brazil, China and other emerging nations.

"The irony is that in exerting its global dominance, the US is steadily taking steps to undermine its future influence by encouraging countries and companies to rely less on the US, trade away and seek alternative trading partners," said the note.

South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond was weaker in early deals, as the yield rose 2 basis points to 9.68%.

Edited by Reuters

Comments

Showroom

Neoflex Safety Boot
BOVA Safety Wear

BOVA cemented their reputation in Africa by delivering high quality engineering through their range of safety footwear. 21 years after producing...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
SABAT
SABAT

From batteries for boats and jet skis, to batteries for cars and quad bikes, SABAT Batteries has positioned itself as the lifestyle battery of...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







301

sq:0.355 0.444s - 167pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now