ActionSA on Wednesday condemned President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Government of National Unity (GNU) for their “silence and lack of transparency” in how they intend to address the looming US trade tariffs.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump informed South Africa of its intention to impose a 30% tariff on South African products exported to the US, separate from sectoral tariffs, from Friday.

South Africa was among several countries to receive letters from Trump, setting out planned tariffs to take effect from Friday.

Trump initially announced a tariff on South African exports to the US in April but then agreed to a three-month delay to discuss trade relations with its trading partners.

ActionSA president Herman Mashaba described the GNU government as having been “woefully inadequate” in efforts to address the deteriorating relationship between the US and South Africa following Ramaphosa’s controversial engagement with Trump in the White House in May.

Mashaba said since the engagement, South Africans had not been informed of what sort of trade deals had been mooted by the GNU and what conditions the US had put to South Africa.

“…the country remains in the dark in these respects. Similarly South African businesses exporting to the US have zero clarity on the plans of the GNU,” he said.

Mashaba said in the absence of any communication to provide assurance to domestic markets, it can only be deduced that there is no plan for how the GNU will mitigate any economic fallout.

“…not to mention the impact on the already impoverished citizens whose living conditions will deteriorate further due to the impact of the impending tariff implementation,” he added.

He questioned why no South African Ambassador or trade team was assigned to Washington to negotiate on behalf of the country.

“Amongst South Africa’s most significant export industries to the US are precious stones and metals, vehicles and vehicle parts, iron, steel, and aluminium. Just the agricultural and automotive export market to the US alone collectively employs more than 100 000 South Africans and the loss of these exports drives a further nail into the aspirations of unemployed South Africans looking for work,” Mashaba pointed out.

The 2025 economic growth forecasts had already been revised down from 1.9% to 1.4% by National Treasury, with many believing that these numbers were optimistic given actual economic growth figures being below 1% for the past 15 years, Mashaba said.

Any fallout from the imposition of these trade tariffs is projected to reduce economic growth by a further 0.3% and increase unemployment and the cost of living for South Africans.

“As with so many other dimensions of this GNU, our country is left rudderless by a government that cannot produce a coherent thought on the direction of the country,” he said.