US President Donald Trump has posted a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Truth Social informing him that South Africa will be charged a tariff of 30 percent from the 1st of August on all products sent into the United States if a new trade deal is not reached by that date.

U.S. President Trump has posted this letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa in which he explains that South Africa will be charged a tariff of 30% starting on August 1st on any and all products sent to the United States. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/DlMKKJAlzz

— Sherwin Bryce-Pease (@sherwiebp) July 7, 2025

The US trade deficit with South Africa last year stood at 8.8 billion dollars.

South Africa was among a number of countries to be issued a tariff letter from President Trump on Monday including Japan, South Korea and Malaysia among others.

Trump said that the letter demonstrated the strength and commitment of the trading relationship despite having a significant trade deficit with South Africa.

Trump said the relationship had been far from reciprocal and that starting August 1st, a 30% tariff would be placed on all South Africa products, separate from all sectoral tariffs. Trump argued that the 30% tariff was far less than what was needed to eliminate the trade deficit between the two countries.

He said they might consider reviewing the tariff imposed were South Africa to open trading markets to the United States and eliminate trade barriers.