South Africa is preparing a new trade offer to present to President Trump, hoping to appeal to his trading approach to foreign policy and ease the boiling tensions with Washington, a South African president spokesperson said this week.
Spokesman Vincent Magwenia said in an interview that South African officials hope Trump will end Africa's growth and opportunity laws.
The law allows billions of dollars worth of goods to enter the United States without duties, from sub-Saharan Africa to produce and automobiles. It is scheduled to expire this year, but could be reapproved by Congress.
South African officials hope the programme will be updated, but they will provide the US with bilateral transactions that will increase trade in sectors such as energy, Magwenia said.
Africa's growth and a future without opportunity laws will represent a major change for the continent's biggest economy. For many years, South Africa has opposed the threat of banishing it from its programme because it has progressed too much.
South African officials argue that Africa's growth and opportunity laws have made businesses more confident in South Africa's economy, maintaining stability across the continent and fostering healthy relations with the United States.
Last month, relations between South Africa and the United States were reversed when Trump accused him of using new land laws to discriminate against white citizens. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa fought back, accusing Trump of spreading misinformation.
The Land Bill allows the South African government to take privately owned land without providing compensation, but supporters say such attacks are rare and subject to strict judicial review.
In response, Trump signed an executive order in South Africa to freeze American aid. The order also criticized Ramaphosa's government for denounced Gaza's genocide and for establishing a nuclear deal with Iran.
In the weeks since the executive order was signed, South African leaders discussed how they would respond.
Ramaphosa's administration has decided on a renegotiated trade agreement with the US, which could potentially melt South Africa's second-largest trading partner partner after China.
“If you take a step back and put your emotions aside, you realize that there's an opportunity to reset your relationship here,” Magwenia said. “There's plenty of material from a trade perspective to ensure we can do that.”
One option under consideration is to increase cooperation between the two countries on gas, he said, with the US increasing access to gas exploration in South Africa and South Africa, and procuring more gas from the US. The proposal also includes a plan for what South Africa considers as fair tariffs, he said.
South African officials bet that a lucrative trade deal will persuade Trump to work with them, but serious obstacles remain.
South African lawmaker Emma Louise Powell, who met with members of the Washington Trump administration and Congress last week, said South Africa had been warned by the US that it should expect further punitive action.
Powell led a delegation sent by the Democratic Alliance, the second largest party in the South African governing coalition. It wasn't an official government mission, but it was intended to eliminate tensions and learn what South Africa could do to repair relations with the US, Powell said.
The delegation did not receive a definitive answer, Powell said, but “it is clear that a significant amount of work needs to be done to rebuild trust.”
During Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s presidency, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called on the US to punish South Africa for foreign policy decisions, including maintaining ties between Hamas and Russia. They also criticized the country for supporting Iran's bids to join BRICS, an economic coalition with Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
The Trump administration is even more unhappy with South Africa. It has embraced the causes of white South Africans who claim to be discriminated against by laws aimed at addressing the harsh racial inequality remaining from apartheid.
Spokesman Magwenia said when South Africa has a trade deal to offer Trump, the country will involve the administration in other controversial issues, such as the land bill. South African officials believe that despite differences in opinion over other policies, favorable economic transactions will convince Trump that maintaining close trade ties is in the US's interest, Magwenia said.
In 2023, South Africa exported $13.9 billion worth of goods to the United States, with less than a quarter of which passed the priority African trade program. South Africa was the largest importer of American products in sub-Saharan Africa, far fewer in 2023 ($7.2 billion in 2023) than was sent from the US.
