Hon Chairperson, trade tensions have contributed to uncertainty and slow growth in the global economy. This has negatively affected our own country and many other countries around the world. The decision by the United States to increase tariffs on steel and aluminium imports has had a direct impact on our own country.
In response, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has presented a series of submissions to the US authorities to exclude our goods and products from these duties, as South African exports do not pose a national security threat to the United States.
While South Africa has not obtained a country exemption, government's intervention has achieved important relief for the industry in the form of product-level exemptions on 36 steel and 161 aluminium tariff lines. We continue to raise our concerns about these duties with our US counterparts, particularly as it relates to the potential for job losses in South Africa.
More widely, we continuously encourage the large trading nations to seek resolution to their differences in appropriate multilateral
trade forums and within the context of the rules-based trading system of the world.
In an effort to diversify trade towards the African continent, South Africa played a leading role in guiding negotiations around the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA.
The South African government's approach is based on developmental and investment-led African economic integration. The AfCFTA will in time create a market of 1,2 billion consumers with a combined GDP of over $3 trillion. As South Africa exports mainly value-added manufactured goods to the African continent, the AfCFTA represents an important additional source of export market development against the background of the trade tensions that are taking place amongst the major economies in the world.
The agreement will fundamentally reshape our own economy and, as expected, the economies of various other countries on our continent. Already, exports to other African countries support about 250 000 jobs and it is the fastest growing part of our manufactured exports.
We are working with other African countries to finalise the detailed modalities and benefits of the AfCFTA. Beyond Africa, we are working
to increase the volume and address the composition of our exports, to shift from simply selling raw materials to the rest of the world and importing finished goods from various countries in the world.
South Africa, along with five other countries in the Southern African region, has concluded a new trade agreement with the United Kingdom in the event of a "no-deal Brexit". Without such a trade agreement, a "no-deal Brexit" would have a negative impact on the South African economy, but more importantly, on the jobs and exports.
The UK remains one of South Africa's key trading partners. In 2018, the UK was the fourth largest destination for South African exports, with bilateral trade between the two countries amounting to more than R140 billion.
An exit in which the UK leaves the EU without any agreement of succession would add significant additional costs to the export and import of goods. This would impact a range of industries, including our motor vehicles and auto components sectors as well as our wine and food export. In some cases, this may lead to a loss of exports completely.
The new agreement will effectively replicate the terms of trade present in the existing SADC-EU Economic Partnership Agreement in respect of tariffs, quotas, rules, origin, and health and safety regulations.
This agreement is important for the thousands of South African workers whose jobs are dependent on particularly this trade, and for the investors who have utilised South Africa as an export base to the UK and the rest of the world.
So, these matters are being dealt with, and with the seriousness that they deserve, because we want to forestall any calamity that would descend on our own country and affect the livelihoods of our people. I thank you. [Applause.]