U.S. President Donald Trump apparently aims to reassert his power to cause a full-blown economic catastrophe, perhaps reminiscent of 1930s-scale Make America Great Depression Again. The self-harm to his own MAGA lower-middle-class social base – especially consumers of cheap imports – will soon become evident when price inflation rises.
But since Trump hit South Africa hard on July 8 with a 30% general tariff (though there are exceptions such as platinum, gold and other minerals which are zero-rated), will we find any creative economic planners in Pretoria, and in the big Johannesburg corporates, now preparing for potentially fast-falling export markets? Not only do they face the rise from the current 10% global tariff to 30% (and an extra 20% for steel and aluminum), but there is also likely to be a 10% BRICS-penalty addition.
What about all the white farmers – allegedly victimized by South Africa’s genocidal state, in the fevered imagination of Trump and Elon Musk – who from August 1, will be the main losers from a rapid rise in the U.S.-import price of their citrus, macadamia nuts, grapes and wine, e.g. in the town of Citrusdal?
