Last night, US President Donald Trump imposed a 30% tariff on all imports to the US.

Tau says it’s not clear how the US arrived at the 60% duties that SA is imposing on US goods into the country.

Speaking at the Gauteng Investment Conference in Johannesburg, Tau says SA tariffs for US goods are much lower.

“We are all trying to work out how the US arrived at 60% discounted to 30%, as the tariffs that we are having, and therefore the discounts. In reality, our tariffs average based on the most favoured nations, and the tariffs are estimated at 7.6%, and that’s our calculation. And of course, we are speculating what the US is calculating and this could include the trade balance, and this could include other considerations. But at this point, we are going to need clarity from the US as to how they arrived at the number and how they would want to engage. I think, as indicated by President Cyril Ramaphosa, we are committed to engaging with the US, as we demonstrate with all other countries that are affected by this trade tariff that they’ve imposed, so that we can seek clarity but also engage about the future of our trade relations going forward.”

--SABC--