South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has opposed what he calls the "unilateral" higher trade tariffs imposed on his country by the US. US President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he would subject imports from South Africa to a new 30% tariff from 1 August.

The U.S.’s closest security allies in Asia, along with six Southeast Asian countries, have been given another three weeks to negotiate trade deals — or face higher tariffs.

The country’s new president, in office for a little over a month, had just dispatched his senior deputies to Washington to try to work out a trade deal.