The Trump administration’s move to halt federal funding to SA — with widespread expectations of SA’s removal from preferential access to US markets — has not diminished the determination of this country’s political leaders to implement its transformation laws.
The recently enacted Expropriation Act and broad-based BEE legislation have been cited by US President Donald Trump, his SA-born adviser, Elon Musk, and influential Republican legislators as reasons behind halting funding to SA.
The action towards SA by the US highlights the influence of Afrikaner lobby groups in America, particularly among Maga (Make America Great Again) Republicans in shaping the US agenda.
“Technocrats are still talking,” Sydney Mufamadi, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s security adviser, told Business Day, adding that SA remains willing to engage with the US while maintaining its sovereignty and economic interests.
Mufamadi says while SA will continue to use diplomatic channels to continue to engage with the US administration — including the embassy and appointed diplomats — to maintain communication and understand each other’s positions, SA is also seeking “to identify people of conscience in the US who may be amenable to SA’s perspective and engage with them to influence the US stance”.
Trump’s America First approach has far-reaching implications for global trade, aid and diplomacy. His executive orders have paused foreign aid, reframed energy diplomacy and reshaped global trade relations. These changes may benefit some countries, but others, like SA, have challenges.
For SA, the US allocated $440m in aid in 2023, the latest year for which US government figures are available, of which $364m went to healthcare.
“We can’t sit back and just complain about what he’s [Trump] doing. We must find a way of holding him in check,” Mufamadi says. “We can’t respond to every declaration he [Trump] makes. We must adopt a mindset which looks at scenarios and work according to those scenarios. That’s when you become proactive. That is the posture.”
Relations between Washington and SA were marked by tensions during the Biden administration, sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The US and European governments are conducting an intensive campaign to rally African governments to oppose Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, though SA has chosen to remain nonaligned in the matter.
Though the tensions between Pretoria and Washington had subsided after a series of diplomatic engagements, Trump’s actions have reignited the fallout, with calls from the US to place further sanctions on SA.
This is despite SA being the US’s biggest trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Trump’s threat might create a delicate balancing act for SA, where it needs to juggle economic stability alongside its pursuit of national interests on the global stage. Repairing relations with the US is therefore crucial.
Data from the US trade representative shows total goods trade with SA was $20.5bn in 2024. US goods exported to SA in 2024 was $5.8bn, down 18.3% ($1.3bn) from 2023. Goods imported from SA in 2024 were $14.7bn, up 4.9% ($679.4m) from 2023. The US goods trade deficit with SA was $8.8bn in 2024, a 29% increase ($2bn) over 2023.
Echoing Mufamadi’s statements on the sidelines of the ANC’s national working committee meeting in the Free State on Monday, the party’s first deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, said the option of sending a delegation to engage with the Trump administration has not been put aside despite the administration’s antagonistic stance towards SA.
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