The South African government hopes to finalise a trade deal with the United States in the near future, President Cyril Ramaphosa said during a state visit to Switzerland.
Ramaphosa told a news conference that negotiators were discussing the text of an agreement, which he said was “tremendous progress”, according to news agency AFP.
“We are looking forward to concluding an agreement fairly soon,” he said. Soon “could be tomorrow, next week, next month”.
South Africa is seeking to reduce the 30% tariffs the US applies to most South African imports. Switzerland is one of the countries that fares worse – its US tariffs are currently at 39%, AFP reported.
Ramaphosa’s visit aimed to strengthen South Africa’s economic and trade ties with Switzerland.
“What this tariff imposition has done is to make us want to diversify our trade reach, and we as South Africa have been looking at spreading our trade wings more effectively to other markets,” he said.
