South Africa is preparing a last-minute trade proposal to avoid US tariffs

U.S. officials have asked South Africa to make a last-minute “enhanced” trade plan so that they can avoid a 30% tariff that goes into effect on Friday, the country’s trade minister said Thursday.

Although South Africa sent President Donald Trump’s office a trade deal proposal in May and then changed it in June, they did not respond.

“To be honest, it’s wait and see,” South Africa’s Trade Minister Parks Tau said on 702 radio: “We’re having to work through a last-minute proposal that’s better than the proposal we had originally proposed.”

A 30% U.S. tariff would threaten 100,000 jobs in South Africa, mostly in the agriculture and car industries, according to the country’s central bank governor. The deadline of August 1 has caused fear and uncertainty.

The U.S. is South Africa’s second-biggest trade partner, after China. India buys cars, some manufactured items, citrus fruits, and wine from South Africa.

Tau reported that South Africans talked to U.S. officials on Wednesday night, including the U.S. trade representative and officials from Washington’s embassy in Pretoria. However, there was still a lot of uncertainty about what would happen as the deadline for tariffs came.

“They (said) they would encourage us to resubmit our proposal, possibly an enhanced proposal, to the United States government,” said Tau.

The United States’ demands on South Africa’s affirmative action policies were making it harder to reach a trade agreement on Tuesday, according to a top South African official.

Our relationship has been stressed by South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies, which are meant to fix centuries of racial inequality, and its genocide case against Israel in the World Court, which both Israel and the U.S. strongly reject.