CURRENT AFFAIRS
BY TARRYN-LEIGH SOLOMONS
SINCE THE 30 % US TARIFFS HIT IN AUGUST LAST YEAR, EXPORTERS HAVE HAD TO RETHINK HOW THEY DO BUSINESS. SIX MONTHS LATER, MANY HAVE ADJUSTED STRATEGIES AND LOOKED AT NEW MARKETS.
South Africa’ s fragile economic recovery is showing unexpected resilience, even as global trade tensions threaten to reshape key export relationships. While growth remains too weak to meaningfully tackle unemployment and poverty, analysts say targeted tariff exemptions have helped cushion the local economy – at least for now.
Most economists expect the country’ s GDP to grow by just over 1 % in 2025, an improvement on the 0.7 % average recorded over the past decade. According to Frank Blackmore, Lead Economist at KPMG South Africa, this modest uptick reflects the country’ s relative insulation from recent US tariff measures.“ The economy has been relatively resilient following the tariffs,” he says.“ Although growth remains woefully insufficient, it is notably better than what we’ ve experienced over the last 10 years.”
EXEMPTIONS SOFTEN THE BLOW
A key reason for this resilience lies in the structure of South Africa’ s exports to the United States. As of August 2025, several of the country’ s most valuable natural resource exports – including platinum group metals( PGMs), coal, gold, manganese, chrome, copper, and other critical minerals – were excluded from the 30 % tariffs imposed by the US. Many agricultural exports were also spared.
“ These exemptions matter,” Blackmore explains.“ The US simply cannot produce sufficient quantities of certain agricultural products such as citrus,
12 INBOUND SA / MARCH 2026