PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA COURTS ELON TO MEND TIES WITH TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA COURTS ELON TO MEND TIES WITH TRUMP
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is flying to D.C. this week hoping one man can patch things up with Trump: Elon.
Relations between the U.S. and South Africa have tanked.
Trump cut aid in February, granted refugee status to white South Africans over “racial discrimination” (which South Africa calls nonsense), and fumed over the country’s land reforms and its genocide case against Israel.
Add tariffs and tension, and the bromance is dead.
Enter Elon—South African-born, Trump-adjacent, and possibly Ramaphosa’s last best hope.
The plan?
Offer Tesla lower import tariffs if Elon builds EV chargers in South Africa, where fewer than 1,000 electric cars sold last year. (Compare that to America’s 1.4 million.).
Also up for discussion: Starlink.
Elon:
“Even though I was born in South Africa, the government will not grant
@Starlink
a license to operate simply because I am not black.
This is a shameful disgrace to the legacy of the great Nelson Mandela who sought to have all races treated equally in South Africa.”
Tagging along is Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, worried Trump will axe South Africa’s duty-free farm exports.
That would hammer an industry worth $2 billion and spike already brutal unemployment.
So yes, Ramaphosa’s bringing data, trade proposals, and Elon’s name to the table.
If charm doesn’t work, maybe capitalism will.
