President Cyril Ramaphosa has underscored the significance of his recent working visit to the United States, telling Parliament that the engagement was both necessary and timely, given the critical role the US continues to play in South Africa’s economic landscape.
“The United States continues to play such a big role in the life of our economy. It was necessary and important for us to go and engage with them, because many of our people's jobs are dependent on our economic dealings with the United States,” President Ramaphosa said on Tuesday.
The President was responding to questions from Members of the National Assembly, with economic growth and the cost of living being among issues for deliberation.
Last week, the President concluded a successful working visit to the United States of America, supported by a delegation of Ministers, eminent South Africans, business and labour.
The visit was aimed at resetting and revitalising bilateral relations between South Africa and the US.
The President explained that the objective of the trip was to engage with the US government to discuss tariffs, investments, and other related matters. It was also to encourage the US President to attend the G20 Summit which South Africa will host and to promote investment by American companies in South Africa and South African companies in the US.
He reiterated that the primary goal of the working visit was to reset the relationship between the two countries, recognising the significant economic and political ties.
The delegation aimed to address the deteriorating relationship, which was a concern for many in South Africa, and to ensure mutual economic benefits.
“The issue of relations between South Africa and the United States was an issue that occupied many people's minds in our country, and many had raised concerns about the deteriorating relationship between our two countries, having recognised the important role that both our countries play in each other's economy, apart from various political relations, diplomatic relations, and we realised that the impact on our country's economy would be adverse unless we were able to repair or reset the relationship between our two countries,” the President said.
The President highlighted the importance of the United States as a trading partner, with over 600 American companies invested in South Africa, and vice versa.
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On the economic and sectoral impact, President Ramaphosa detailed that the sectors that would be affected by the relationship with the United States including the agriculture and automotive sector.
He added that the visit aimed to protect jobs and investments in these sectors by maintaining strong economic ties.
“A number of our jobs, some of the sectors that would be affected would be agriculture, the auto sector and steel and aluminium sector, and a number of other sectors that make machines, and the mining sector, where we sell critical minerals to the United States, would be adversely affected if the relations were not straightened out. So it was to this end that we were motivated to reset that relationship,” the President explained.
President Ramaphosa said the second objective was to set up a process of engagement between the United States and South Africa.
“There had hitherto been a process of disengaging, where we were no longer really engaging at government level to deal with issues that governments normally deal with on an ongoing basis. And we wanted to engage on tariffs, on investments and related matters,” the President said.
G20 and resetting relations
On the Group of Twenty (G20) the President said that the trip aimed to highlight the significance of the G20 process and to encourage US participation.
“The third objective was to discuss the G20 and to highlight the important role that a country like the United States, which is the largest economy in the world, plays in the activities of the G20 which we are so deeply immersed in and having the responsibility of leading and that it's important for the United States to engage with the G20 process, and ultimately to entice the leader of the United States to come to the leaders’ summit at the end of the year,” the President said.
The President emphasised that despite public perceptions, the delegation had meaningful discussions with President Trump and his representatives, fostering ongoing engagement.
He added that the engagement process initiated after the trip has led to discussions on tariffs and investments, indicating a positive reset of relations.
The reset of relations is believed to have been achieved, with ongoing discussions expected to continue through the G20 process.
“We do believe that we achieved those objectives. The engagement with the American government has started soon after we left Washington…and there are discussions that are happening in relation to tariffs, in relation to investments, and we've believed that we have reset the relationship.
“Despite what we could have seen on television, we were able to have a much more meaningful discussion and meeting with President Trump and his representatives during the quiet room where we had lunch together and had meaningful exchanges on a number of issues. And we do believe that the engagement will continue through the G20 process,” the President said. – SAnews.gov.za
