Our journalists Victoria O’Regan and Yeshiel Panchia have been reporting on Trump’s tariffs — and what they could mean for South Africa’s economy.
Today, Friday 8 August, they’ll be online on DMC and ready to answer your questions. No jargon. No spin. Just the facts, straight from the newsroom.
Date: Friday, 8 August 2025
Time: 12:00–13:00 SAST
Where: Right here on DMC
Leave your questions for @victoria_dailymaveri and @ypanchiaDM in the replies and get the inside story.
There has been a lot of talk about finding new markets to compensate for a loss of revenue from the US - how realistic is this and which markets do you think are the best (and most realistic) targets?
Is the 30% tariff a punishment for SA’s political position on e.g. the war in Gaza, economic redress? Or is it truly based on some mathematical calculation of a supposed trade deficit?
Victoria O’Regan has had to rush off to cover an urgent news story. Business Maverick journalist Lindsey Schutters @SharpSchutters will step in for her to answer all your questions about tariffs
Should the South African government be doing more to protect local industries from these kinds of external pressures?
Always ready for a knowledge sharing party
Oddly, I just wrapped an interview with Darling Breweries MD Tewie Roos and he says the best thing the government can do for the small batch alcohol industry is have a rethink of the excise structure to incentivise local production (jobs) and decrease the volume of illicit alcohol trade - up to 20% of the alcohol on shelf is illicit🤯
Reducing that 20% with better incentives will be a net win for tax revenue and a deterrent for the rot happening in the market…
The increased tariffs on Brazil and India - plus the additional 10% on BRICS nations - are strong indicators of the purpose of these tariffs.
I think that this is somewhat feasible - we’ve already seen some progress with regard to this in the agricultural and citrus sectors. Ultimately however, the scale of the US economy does mean that a pivot to new markets both won’t be able to ever entirely cover the shortfall, but also that a move to new markets involves a lot of time - logistics, negotiation, reworking of large elements of the supply chain.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had a call with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday - do you have any BTS insight into what went on in that call?
An important note, and in contrast to Trump’s Truth Social post claiming that BILLIONS IN TARIFFS ARE FLOWING INTO THE US, is that the tariffs increase the cost of products in the US.
There is definitely a strong geopolitical element to the application of the tariffs. Our country’s action at the ICIJ, misconceptions about BEE and our ‘white genocide’ I think all have played a role for sure - but there are other aspects as Lindsey mentioned with how tariffs have been applied to other BRICS nations.
What is the short-term effect of the tariffs on US consumers expected to be? With the midterms next year can Trump afford a rise in costs even if there is long term economic growth as a result of the tariffs.
This is a key point that a lot of people seem to miss - the US consumer is eating the cost
I read somewhere that the price of shoes in particular are set to increase quite a bit. What will the Americans do without their kicks?!
All economic indicators are currently up - there was early fears of the market tanking in the US summer - so only time will tell. And, in 5-10 years time, we’ll see the ultimate fallout of the market manipulation.
How will the government’s newly announced “interventions,” such as the Export Support Desk, work, and how quickly will they be able to help? @insider
With all the production happening in tariff-hit South East Asia, Nike is scrambling to control costs right now. Which feeds into the artificial market buoyancy on the back of massive orders to beat tariffs.
Personally, I think that while the Export Support Desk might have an impact, there hasn’t been enough clarity as to implementation and institutional function. More importantly as you’ve raised - they have come a little late to prevent damage. Another concern is where the funds for such interventions will come from, given that the fiscus is already so constrained.