Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has said the 30% tariffs imposed on South African exports to the US are a form of death throes aggression, alleging that it is a desperate move from a waning power that senses its influence slipping.

“The danger with the US imposing the 30% tariffs is that it is the kicking of a declining empire. It is going to hurt many because it's in decline. The influence of the US is declining fast, and they are very agitated about that.

“They are going to injure many of us, including us in South Africa. With the 30% tariffs, I'm sure that is going to accelerate the decline of its influence in South Africa. And you're not going to escape it. You will not be discussing it. You're not going to escape it,” he said on August 5.

According to the International Monetary Fund’s April 2025 World Economic Outlook, the US remains the world’s strongest economy by far, with a nominal GDP of about $30.34-trillion, followed by China at about $19.5-trillion. Although growth forecasts for this year indicate a slowdown in US economic growth to between 1.8% and 1.9%, no outright contraction or collapse is evident.

Mantashe was speaking to diamond industry stakeholders at a sector engagement session held in Kempton Park, during which he alleged that the principal reason for the tariffs being imposed on South Africa was because of the country’s membership in the BRICS+ alliance.

However, Russia has only been hit with a 10% tariff as of August 1, which means that BRICS+ membership does not appear to be the only factor.

“They impose 30% on us because we're members of BRICS+. We can't get out of BRICS+. We're a southern hemisphere country. We're a developing economy. We can't pretend to be something we're not.

“Now there's a shift of power, and the Eastern Bloc is getting stronger. It's a reconfigurement that is much different from the Cold War. It's an economic driven shift of power, and if we read that situation wrongly, we're going to be hurt more, but if we read it correctly, we're likely to benefit from it,” Mantashe argued.

He said there was a straightforward solution to the problem of US tariff hikes, which was to diversify South Africa’s export markets and reduce its reliance on any single one.

“Our approach is different from China and everybody's because we say, let's continue engaging the US, because we need that market. That's our approach. We need that market. Let's talk to them. But let's not get imprisoned by that discussion. Let's deal with it as we look into various alternatives,” Mantashe said.