The United States and South Africa are now engaged in text-based negotiations on a future bilateral trade deal, and Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau says “significant progress” on the way forward has been made.

Ahead of joining the South African delegation for this week’s United Nations General Assembly, Tau spent a number of days in Washington, D.C., meeting with the United States Trade Representative and key members of Congress.

The Minister indicated that part of the talks sought to reduce the high 30% duty imposed on South African exports and the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which is due to expire at the end of September.

After presenting the U.S. with a Framework Trade proposal in May and then a revised proposal in August, movement towards the finalization of a bilateral trade agreement remains painstaking, but with some progress.

“Our teams have been engaging, at least at the level of the text, not the actual document. There were discussions on Tuesday and Wednesday, quite intense discussions between the team. By the time we received the report jointly with the U.S. Trade Representative, there were indications that we’re making significant progress in terms of the discussions and the way forward. And what’s the way forward, you’d ask – the US will give us a revised text on the basis of the comments and questions over the past week, and we anticipate that that will be given to us early in the next week. It would give us about two weeks to consider to consult stakeholders, sister departments, go to cabinet, get a mandate and be able to respond and from there would be able to then get into the details of the negotiations.”

The South African delegation, led by President Ramaphosa, is expected to engage later this week on the margins of the UNGA in bilateral discussions with leading US companies seeking to invest in South Africa and a Trade and Investment Executive Dialogue co-hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce.

Minister Tau meets with US stakeholders on tariffs