The internal combustion engine still rules America's roads, and without South Africa's PGMs, its vehicle industry would find itself floundering and scrambling.
South Africa's rich geological endowment is its trump card against the Trump administration. The US simply needs our platinum group metals (PGMs) and other mined resources, and this has long been the case.
In 1986, the US Congress had to override a veto by then President Ronald Reagan to impose sanctions on South Africa's apartheid state. But there were exemptions that provided a hard-currency lifeline to the regime in its dying days: platinum group metals (PGMs), gold and diamonds were exempt.
Four decades later, South Africa faces exclusion from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) - effective from 1 January 2027 - which provided preferential access to the US market for qualifying products.
For context Leaving Agoa is a 3.4% tariff bump, not a door slammed on the US market November 2, 2026 But the likes of PGMs and gold are not affected by Agoa, and this is a big deal as metals and minerals account for more than half of South Africa's exports to the US.
"Several of South Africa's most important mineral exports were not dependent on Agoa because the applicable US Harmonised Tariff Schedule lines already carried a zero ordinary customs duty," the...
