South Africa Prepares Trade Deal Meant to Ease Tensions With Trump
South Africa is preparing a new trade offer to present to President Trump, hoping to appeal to his transactional approach to foreign policy and ease boiling tensions with Washington, a spokesman for South Africa’s president said this week.
The spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, said in an interview that South African officials are anticipating Mr. Trump will call for an end to the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a decades-old trade agreement that has been an economic boon to the 32 African nations that it includes.
One option under consideration is to increase cooperation between the two countries on gas, with the United States getting more access to gas exploration in South Africa and South Africa sourcing more of its gas from America, he said.
The proposal also would include a plan for what South Africa would consider fair tariffs, he said.
While South African officials are betting that a favorable trade deal will convince Mr. Trump to work with them, serious obstacles remain.
Emma Louise Powell, a South African lawmaker who met with the Trump administration and members of Congress in Washington last week, said she had been warned South Africa should expect further punitive actions from the United States.
