{"id":811056,"date":"2025-02-10T10:45:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T08:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=811056"},"modified":"2025-02-10T10:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T08:45:22","slug":"south-africas-trade-with-united-states-versus-russia-iran-and-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/811056\/south-africas-trade-with-united-states-versus-russia-iran-and-palestine\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s trade with United States versus Russia, Iran, and Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa has a trade surplus of R36 billion with the United States and a trade deficit of R5 billion with Russia, Iran, and Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many economists urged the South African government to consider this economic reality when dealing with the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled \u201cEgregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The order highlighted the recently signed Expropriation Act, which it said shows a \u201cshocking disregard of its citizen’s rights\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It includes accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice and reinvigorating its relations with Iran to develop commercial, military, and nuclear arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another problematic area is South Africa\u2019s close relationship with Russia and the country\u2019s joint military exercises with Russia and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many influential United States politicians argue that South Africa has aligned itself with Russia, Iran, and Palestine in opposition to the United States\u2019 interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest risks to South Africa is losing its participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AGOA provides participating countries, including South Africa, with trade preferences for quota and duty-free entry into the United States for certain goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approximately 22% of South African exports to the United States benefit from AGOA, which amounts to billions in benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, trade union Solidarity said trade with the United States provides jobs to 426,000 South Africans. 93,000 South Africans rely on AGOA for their job security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AGOA contributes significantly to the South African economy and strengthens relations between South Africa and the United States of America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, losing its AGOA benefits is not the worst thing that can happen. If South Africa continues on this path, the United States may also impose tariffs and even sanctions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joel Pollak, the frontrunner to become the United States Ambassador to South Africa, also criticized South Africa\u2019s transformation policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that race-based policies, like black economic empowerment, are a problem for investors and opposed to what the United States is doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fact that South Africa has soured its relationship with the United States can have dire consequences for the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa should make friends with the United States<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many people, including renowned economist Dawie Roodt, urged South Africa to mend its relationship with the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said South Africa must realise that Donald Trump is the most powerful man in the world, in charge of the biggest economy in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhatever he says or does will have a huge impact on South Africa,\u201d Roodt said. \u201cDonald Trump only saying a few things saw the South African rand weakening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decisions like kicking South Africa out of the AGOA, implementing tariffs, or even imposing sanctions will have a huge impact on the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In comparison, the United States economy is so large that it will hardly feel the impact of such a decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt advised the South African government to be as diplomatic as possible and be politically neutral internationally. \u201cSouth Africa should try to be friends with everybody,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to be extremely careful on how we approach the Donald Trump Administration,\u201d Roodt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen he wakes up one morning and is angry with South Africa, he can inflict horrible pain on the local economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhether you like him or not, you have to be on the good side of Donald Trump because he is the top dog.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gayton McKenzie, Patriotic Alliance leader and Minister of Sport, Art, Culture and Recreation, shared Roodt\u2019s view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McKenzie said the United States has a right to ask South Africa questions about local policies as it gives the country billions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen somebody gives you billions, and there is something they are unhappy about, it is their right to tell you there is a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s trade with the United States versus Russia, Iran, and Palestine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The export and import data between South Africa and the United States clearly illustrate Roodt and McKenzie\u2019s views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, South Africa exported goods worth R157 billion to the United States. The biggest exports were precious metals and vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa imported goods worth R120 billion over the last year, including machinery, mineral products, vehicles, and aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means South Africa has a trade surplus of R36 billion with the United States, which is extremely valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trade with countries which South Africa aligned itself with, Russia, Iran, and Palestine, are much smaller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, South Africa exported goods worth R5.4 billion to Russia, R359 million to Iran, and R155,000 to Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It imported products worth R10 billion from Russia, R68 million from Iran, and R54,000 from Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa had a trade deficit of R4.5 billion with Russia, Iran, and Palestine. This was due to the large R4.8 billion trade deficit with Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simply put, South Africa benefits tremendously from its trade with the United States and derives little benefit from Russia, Iran, and Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, it is a poor financial decision for South Africa to align itself with Russia, Iran, and Palestine instead of the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below shows the trade between South Africa and the United States, Russia, Iran, and Palestine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Country<\/strong><\/td>United States<\/strong><\/td>Russia<\/strong><\/td>Iran<\/strong><\/td>Palestine<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Exports<\/strong><\/td>R157 billion<\/td>R5 billion<\/td>R0.36 billion<\/td>R0 billion<\/td><\/tr>
Imports<\/strong><\/td>R120 billion<\/td>R10 billion<\/td>R0.07 billion<\/td>R0 billion<\/td><\/tr>
Trade Surplus<\/strong><\/td>R36 billion<\/td>-R4.8 billion<\/td>R0.29 billion<\/td>R0 billion<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa has a trade surplus of R36 billion with the United States and a trade deficit of R5 billion with Russia, Iran, and Palestine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":802595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[10849,853,21682,21681,10022],"class_list":["post-811056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-donald-trump","tag-south-africa","tag-trade-deficit","tag-trade-surplus","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811056"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":811059,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811056\/revisions\/811059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}