Political Analyst Shares 3 Reasons Why the US Elections Are Important to South Africa
- Former President Donald Trump won the US elections, defeating the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris
- This ensures Trump a clear path to inauguration day as the 47th President of the United States on 20 January 2025
- Political analyst and senior University of Pretoria lecturer Sithembile Mbete told Briefly News that the elections were essential to SA on various fronts, including bilateral relations on trade
Source: Getty Images
TSHWANE — The US presidential elections ran their course, with Donald J. Trump the clear winner even before the final votes were tallied across the remaining swing states on Wednesday, 6 November 2024.
By the time this story was published, Trump had already given his acceptance speech as the president-elect after taking the presidential vote by a landslide.
This paves the way for Trump, the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, to be sworn in as the 47th President on Monday, 20 January 2025.
Among the battleground states, his victory was decided after he swept Pennsylvania and Alaska to get the 270 electoral college votes to defeat the Democratic Party candidate, incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris.
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There are 538 electoral college votes, and the candidate who passes the 270 threshold wins the race.
After securing his third battleground victory, the former president addressed supporters while the other swing states in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin remained too close to call.
Harris took California and New York, among the traditionally Democratic states, but her prospects of occupying the highest seat in the White House were dusted.
Political analyst explains why US elections are important for SA
Political analyst and University of Pretoria senior lecturer Dr Sithembile Mbete spoke exclusively to Briefly News about the US elections' bearing on South Africa's trade.
Mbete painted a clear picture of the importance of the outcome for several reasons, primarily hinged on the US's status as a leading global powerhouse.
1. The USA is a significant trading partner
Mbete said the US is SA's third-largest trading partner in terms of two-way trade. Although, in some cases, SA has lots of trade with China, the country's trade with the US is more favourable to China because the US has a trade deficit with South Africa.
"We export more than we import from the US. This makes for a favourable trade relationship.
"Last year, several US Congress representatives attempted to have SA removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which SA has been a part of since its inception due to our foreign policy stance on Israel.
However, the attempts weren't successful, as subsequent negotiations between the two countries smoothed things out. This was important because SA is the biggest beneficiary of AGOA of all African countries that are a part of it.
South Africa has the most companies within the US that benefit from this arrangement, which allows the companies to export goods and services to the US duty-free.
2. SA will liaise closely with the US after the G20 summit
The country has been part of the G20 for many years, and next year, South Africa will host it for the first time. It will also be the first time it is held in Africa. The US will host the G20, taking over from South Africa in 2026.
"What tends to happen is that countries staging it one after the other work closely together to ensure a smooth transition. So, SA will liaise closely with whatever the US government will be.
"Not much has been said about Trump's position and attitude towards the G20. Regardless, US-SA relations will be in the spotlight, whoever the President," Mbete said.
3. SA's foreign policy position
The International Court of Justice genocide case SA brought against Israel and the country's role in BRICS heightened South Africa's foreign policy and international relations position.
Mbete noted that the way any US administration views this matters for South Africa's freedom to exercise independent foreign policy.
"However, because SA has longstanding military, intelligence, and other relationships with the US, all of these matter."
Mbete is an academic whose research interests include international relations, global government and multilateralism. Her domestic research interests are in electoral politics.
Ramaphosa toasts Trump on US election win
Meanwhile, Briefly News reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa was among the global leaders who congratulated Donald Trump on his US presidential election win on Wednesday, 6 November 2024.
Ramaphosa raised a glass to his counterpart, sharing that he looked forward to strengthened ties as South Africa assumes the presidency of the G20 in 2025.
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Source: Briefly News
