South Africa awaits US response to trade proposal as tariff deadline looms

By Nellie Peyton

JOHANNESBURG, July 28 (Reuters) - South Africa is still waiting to hear back from the U.S. on a trade proposal it submitted last month in the hope of avoiding high tariffs, officials said on Monday, with only four days left before a 30% levy on its exports is due to kick in.

Pretoria has been tight-lipped about its negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration ahead of the August 1 tariff deadline, which comes as the two countries' relationship has deteriorated over South Africa's domestic race policy and genocide case against Israel.

"I can confirm that we haven't received a substantive response to our framework deal yet," Kaamil Alli, spokesperson for Trade Minister Parks Tau, said.

"Negotiations are ongoing," he added in a text message.

Trump has imposed new tariffs around the world before delaying most of them to allow for negotiations. In the past week, his government struck deals with the EU and Japan to lower tariffs on most goods to 15% after threatening 25% or 30%.

Trump said on Monday that he expected the U.S. to set tariffs in the range of 15% to 20% for countries that did not reach a negotiated trade agreement with Washington, but did not specifically say if that applied to South Africa.

South Africa said on July 1 that it was aiming for a maximum tariff application of 10%, and for some products to be exempt.

JOB LOSS FEARS

The Democratic Alliance, the second-biggest party in South Africa's coalition government, said on Saturday it was being kept in the dark regarding the trade talks and was concerned a deal was "far from completion".

A farmers' association wrote to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday asking for urgent action to save jobs.

A Department of Agriculture spokesperson confirmed that the latest proposal was submitted in June, and was a revised draft of what South Africa had first taken to Trump in May.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. is South Africa's second-largest bilateral trading partner after China. South Africa's central bank governor has said the proposed tariff could cause around 100,000 job losses, with the agriculture and automotive sectors hardest-hit.

Tau seemed to signal progress last week when he said South Africa had signed a "condition precedent" document with the U.S. trade office, but did not give details about what it contained.

"Should we not be able to secure a favourable trade deal, or the concession for fresh produce, local job losses before the next season will be a certainty," Boitshoko Ntshabele, CEO of the Citrus Growers' Association of Southern Africa, said in a statement.