Pandor calls on the U.S. to drop steel and aluminum tariffs in talks with Blinken
According to a report from South Africa on August 8, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Pandor urged the US government to drop the four-year-old Section 232 tariff on imported steel and aluminum. Former U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of 25% and 10% on imported steel and aluminum in March 2018, with the exception of Canada and Mexico. South Africa is one of the largest steel producers in Africa.
South African steelmakers produced 5.7 million tonnes of crude steel in 2019, second only to Egypt on the continent, according to worldsteel. In 2020, South Africa exported US$344.6 million worth of steel and US$324 million worth of aluminum to the United States, according to the UN COMTRADE international trade database.
In a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Blinken on Monday, Pandor said that South Africa was pushing for investment with the U.S. “A good start on this would be to quickly resolve the long-pending trade issues surrounding the levy, including the removal of U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. 232 Tariffs”. At the end of Monday’s meeting, Pandor and Blinken had not agreed on the issue.