A year on from first announcing a swathe of “Liberation Day” tariffs and universal tariffs on trade, the Trump administration is doubling down on the tactic, with the investigation into South Africa and 59 other countries the next step in the scheme.
The Trump administration announced its “Liberation Day” Tariffs on 2 April 2025, aimed at imposing a “reciprocal” tariff on major trade partners, including South Africa.
South Africa was saddled with one of the highest rates, at 30%, which sat on top of the universal tariff imposed by Washington (of 10%) and other sector-specific tariffs.
US President Donald Trump initially set the launch date of the tariffs for 9 April 2025, but paused them for 90 days to allow negotiations to take place.
The tariffs eventually kicked in on 7 August 2025, though the ultimate impact on South Africa was not as brutal as many economists had expected.
The Trump administration was dealt another blow in February 2026 when the US Supreme Court ruled the tariff regime illegal.
In response, Washington raised the universal tariff to 15% and sought new ways to use tariffs as its primary trade tool.
According to White House Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai, one year on, the tariff strategy has proved highly successful for the United States, narrowing key trade deficits in 12 months.
It has also become a key negotiation tool, he said, with the US securing more than 20 trade deals with major partners.
“The president has leveraged the strength of the American economy – the largest consumer market in the world – to get better terms for American workers and businesses,” he said.
Critically, there is zero intention of going back to a regime without the tariffs, with the official instead pointing to the administration leaning into tariffs even harder.
Desai noted that the Trump administration’s tariffs “are both a policy tool and a negotiating tool,” and that, in many cases, they are used to bring countries to the negotiating table.
In a South African context, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) has been in active negotiations with the US since the announcement of the initial Liberation Day tariffs, but no official deal has been struck.
While South Africa’s approach has been strictly trade-based, the United States has approached negotiations on political and policy terms, which Pretoria has been reticent to include.
US Ambassador to South Africa, Leo Brent Bozell, recently expressed Washington’s frustrations with the local government’s refusal to engage on these points.
Regardless, there have been positive indications, from both sides, that a workable trade deal is still possible. Unfortunately for South Africa, time is not on its side.
According to Desai, tariffs will remain a central pillar of the Trump administration’s economic agenda, and more tariffs are on the way.
“Tariffs are here to stay,” he said. “They’ve already delivered too many wins – from securing trade deals to lowering costs in key industries – to go back to the old status quo.”
Specifically, he pointed to ongoing Section 301 investigations and national security tariffs under Section 232 as mechanisms that will allow the administration to expand its reach.
The Section 301 investigation was announced in early March 2026, focusing on South Africa and 59 other countries and seeking instances of “unfair trade”.
Hearings on these investigations are scheduled for April 28, 2026, and the DTIC has confirmed that Pretoria had received communications regarding it.
The exact terms of the investigation have not been publicly communicated.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer specifically noted that countries that cannot “resolve” any issues flagged by the investigation could face a tariff or fee.
He said that the Trump administration wanted to move quickly with the process and have outcomes “within months”, implying rough waters ahead.
Section 232 tariffs are those imposed by the US president on imports that he deems a national security risk. This section has been used to impose large tariffs on metals such as steel and aluminium. – Business Tech
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