Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Flickr Creative Commons Photo/ZA Government
The meeting between Cyril Ramaphosa and Donald Trump, set for May 21, is being framed as a diplomatic reset between South Africa and the US.
But those familiar with Trump’s foreign policy playbook know that ‘reset’ often means ‘submit.’
The White House has a bee in its bonnet over South Africa’s positions on Israel, BRICS, and what it views as “anti-West” posturing. It has also embraced fringe claims of persecution against Afrikaners. Pretoria was also hit with 31% bilateral tariffs as part of the suspended “Liberation Day” duties — in addition to 25% levies on autos and car parts, a key sector for South Africa.
Yet South Africa is not without leverage. Despite domestic volatility, it holds the keys to part of the 21st-century global economy: minerals. It controls over 80% of global platinum reserves and ranks among the top producers of vanadium and manganese — all essential to battery technology, defence systems, and the green energy transition. The US Inflation Reduction Act and CHIPS Act make clear that mineral supply chains are now a matter of national security. And South Africa, quite literally, is sitting on the mother lode.
