By Dikeledi Molobela

- Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen has emphasised that South Africa’s visit to Washington D.C. in the United States is about doing the hard work of preserving trade, protecting jobs, and ensuring that the country’s agricultural economy not only survives but thrives. 

Speaking to the media ahead of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Steenhuisen said the most important item on the agenda is ensuring mutually beneficial trade between South Africa and the United States. 

Reflecting on his engagement with the U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, on Tuesday, Steenhuisen described the dialogue as “cordial and constructive” - laying the groundwork for what could be a new era of mutually beneficial trade relations between the two countries. 

“We met and had a very cordial and constructive meeting with Ambassador Greer… We had a very open and frank exchange about how we can ensure mutually beneficial trade between South Africa and the United States of America, and reiterated the importance of both markets for each other, and obviously a lot of emphasis from the American side [on] wanting to rebalance some of the trade… and from our side, wanting to retain market access, but not with a 30% tariff,” the Minister said. 

Central to the talks was the need to retain South Africa’s market access in the U.S. -  especially for critical exports such as citrus, wine, nuts, and table grapes; sectors that sustain thousands of rural jobs back home.

Before heading into a briefing meeting with President Ramaphosa and the South African delegation at the South African Embassy, Steenhuisen said he would brief the President about the outcome of that meeting in terms of what was put on the table, solutions and a way forward. 

“Our key goal here is to keep the doors open with the United States of America, to ensure that we have great ongoing bilateral arrangements, and where we do have issues on phytosanitary and animal health, that we have open channels to be able to deal with them as quickly as possible, so that we keep the mutual trade going,” the Minister said. 

On whether the issues of land expropriation and the resettled white Afrikaners came up during the meeting, Steenhuisen had this to say: "No, it didn't come up at all. 

"The focus yesterday was on trade and how we keep trade going. No doubt the matter will come up in the course of the period, and we must be honest, we do have a rural safety problem. It affects rural communities harshly due to poor police resources and the difficulty of policing large areas. 

"That's why I think what we should be looking for are partnerships with other countries and how we can improve using technology and other means. Farmers and farm workers do feel unsafe and insecure in many parts of rural areas, but it's no different to challenges faced in rural areas around other parts of the world."

Steenhuisen also spoke passionately about the resolve and patriotism of South African farmers, many of whom he had just met at the Nampo Agricultural Fair last week. 

“The agricultural sector and farmers I interacted with are 100% committed to South Africa. They don’t want to go anywhere else; they are happy to be in South Africa. 

"Of course, we have challenges -- roads, safety, inefficiencies in our ports -- but they see these things as resolvable.

“I am confident that by working together as the agriculture sector, including farmers, farm workers and agricultural businesses, that we will be able to find a solution to the problems that face us,” the Minister said. 

Closing on a note of resilience, the Minister offered a powerful reminder of what it means to be South African.

“At the end of the day, that’s one of the quintessential essences of being South African -- you make a plan, you find a way through. When we stand together, we resolve our biggest challenges. I am here to be solution-oriented and not just stand on the sidelines throwing stones,” he said. 

Two weeks ago, President Trump granted refugee status to 49 white South Africans, citing racial discrimination, a claim the South African government has strongly challenged and termed as a false narrative. Government has challenged any assertion that people of a certain race or culture are being targeted for persecution.