South Africa shoots itself in the foot

The South African government’s failure to seal a trade deal with the United States is due to a set of strategic mistakes and an inability to deal with Washington’s concerns seriously. 

South Africa is still without an ambassador in Washington and has failed to engage with the United States on key points of difference. 

The country also lacks a presence in the United States to lobby on its behalf and enable it to dictate the narrative surrounding South Africa. 

Without this presence, other people have dictated the narrative about South Africa and influenced American policy towards the country. 

This is not something that has happened in the past few years, but is the result of a decade of not taking South Africa’s relations with the United States seriously. 

Political analyst Dr Frans Cronje outlined South Africa’s mistakes in negotiating with the United States and why the country still does not have a trade deal with the world’s largest economy. 

“It is very similar to what we see domestically in South Africa, with strategic mistakes resulting in poor outcomes,” Cronje told the State of the Nation Podcast. 

“The Americans desire a vast trade with South Africa on a scale far beyond anything our Department of Trade and Industry can conceive.” 

Cronje explained that the United States has been immensely frustrated by South Africa’s resistance to negotiating the deal. 

South Africa is now one of the few countries that has not been able to negotiate a trade deal with the United States and faces the elevated tariffs threatened by United States President Donald Trump.

“We are one of a small minority that got a letter and, at this stage of the game, still remain at the tariff level threatened in that letter. Most countries are at half or a third of that,” Cronje said. 

South Africa faces tariffs of 30% on goods exported to the US market, which effectively negates any benefit the country receives from being part of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. 

“I am fairly confident that by now we should have been at 10%, which is very low considering overall global tariff rates. That was easily achievable,” Cronje said. 

A comedy of errors

South Africa has largely failed to achieve a lower tariff rate due to the government’s strategic missteps, with it lacking a presence in Washington. 

This is the major issue for South Africa, rather than other areas of its foreign policy. The country is simply unable to get its message across or negotiate a deal as there is no one to talk to the United States. 

“We do not have an ambassador in Washington, which is one thing. We also do not have ambassadors in many other important parts of the world,” Cronje said. 

“An ambassador in and of itself cannot achieve much. You need a team. South Africa needs a team of twenty or more South Africans who spend every single day pounding the streets of Washington.” 

“These individuals should be at every think tank gathering, every cocktail party, every Congressional committee meeting, having lunch with researchers, and when they are not doing that, they should be making pests of themselves in Congressional office buildings.” 

South Africa should have a team of individuals making their case at every available opportunity to shift the perception of the country and improve relations with the United States. 

“We have none of that. We have not had that for a long time, and I have a record that sits inside my phone of many visits to Washington, where I have come back and lamented about the state of South Africa’s presence there,” Cronje said. 

“I have come back and sent a note to a senior government official or ANC representative, telling them that there is nothing on the ground from South Africa and that we are in serious trouble here.”

“If we do not get serious representation in America, other people will write the national storyline for us, and there will be massive losses as a result.” 

While Cronje said his advice was sometimes taken seriously, very little was done about it, and nothing has materially changed. 

This is a similar problem to domestic challenges. Everyone knows what the problems are and what needs to be done, but it is not done.