South Africa’s trade minister has said African nations should pivot towards markets including China after US President Donald Trump’s tariff blitzkrieg in effect “nullified” a deal that offered US trade concessions to several African countries.
Parks Tau said the African Growth and Opportunity Act with the US in effect no longer applied in light of Trump’s tariff decision, meaning African nations should shift their trade towards fast-growing markets, including countries from the global south.
“We have to ensure we diversify and expand the people and countries with which we trade,” he said. “In the east, an appetite has been expressed [and] citrus was included in the products that we would now be able to send into the Chinese markets.”