South Africa is one of the many African countries bearing the biggest brunt of the Trump administration’s recent shift in US foreign policy. The US has drastically reduced aid to South Africa and expelled its ambassador, sparking a diplomatic row. So, should South Africa look elsewhere for a ‘powerful’ partner, and can that be the EU?
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00:00Relations between South Africa and the United States of America turned sour
00:05in January this year when Donald Trump returned to the White House as president.
00:10Recently, the U.S. expelled South Africa's ambassador in a move that has sent shockwaves.
00:16Trump has imposed sanctions on South Africa over what he termed as anti-white policies.
00:22He has also stopped some critical U.S.-funded social intervention programs in South Africa.
00:27But on his part, South Africa's president,
00:30Cyril Ramaphosa, has downplayed the worsening relations.
00:33We cannot be blue-tailed because we are such an important player to the United States of America
00:41as they are an important player to South Africa.
00:46But where can South Africa turn to show ties with the U.S. degenerate further?
00:51Welcome to The Flipside.
00:53In 2023, the U.S. became South Africa's second largest trade partner after China.
00:59Bilateral trade increased to $21.4 billion in 2021 from $15.9 billion in 2020 and $13.3 billion in
01:102019. The U.S. State Department has identified South Africa as Africa's largest U.S. trade
01:17partner. So why is Donald Trump willing to jeopardize such a relationship?
01:22The West, led by Donald Trump and especially Make America Great program,
01:30has demonstrated lawlessness and caprice that they cannot be trusted at all.
01:34Trump's decision to impose sanctions on South Africa over its land expropriation bill
01:40has already been disruptive. President Ramaphosa believes ties with Washington can still be
01:47despite the setbacks. South Africans, though, want their country to stand firm
01:52and call the bluff of the U.S.
02:10But can South Africa afford to lose the U.S. as a major partner?
02:15It's not in South Africa's interest to have the U.S. as an enemy, but it is in South Africa's
02:21interest to think about what it is that we want from the relationship with the U.S. and other
02:28countries around the world. Now, South Africa is already a member of BRICS,
02:32a group of leading emerging economies considered a rival to Western dominoes, China and Russia.
02:39Also, members of BRICS already have stronger ties with South Africa.
02:43This month, the European Union has shown interest in South Africa with a
02:4850 billion euro trade deal in the offing.
02:51But could the EU be preparing to fill the big void the U.S. may be creating?
02:56We do not look at the fatness of what a particular group of nations or single nation is offering.
03:03Just based on the fatness of the offer, we take that offer. No,
03:08you must first pass our values test. And those values are based on anti-imperialism,
03:14anti-racism, anti-apartheid, anti-genocide.
03:19If you cannot pass those, you cannot be our friend in South Africa.
03:22Well, Africa has been over-reliant on the West for decades, which has come at a cost.
03:28So what lessons should South Africa and the rest of the continent learn
03:33from the ongoing geopolitical evolution?
03:36If there's anything to be learned from the past two months is that South Africa
03:41and African countries need to be in conversation with each other and need to be in much stronger
03:46ties when it comes to the way we engage with the rest of the world.
03:51And that's the flip side.