JOHANNESBURG, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- During his recent visit to the United States, South African Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition Parks Tau said progress has been made in trade talks with Washington, expressing cautious optimism that a deal can be reached.
"Like negotiations, these are tough discussions, so it's very difficult to anticipate what the outcome would be. But I am optimistic because there's a sense that we'd want to reach an agreement -- and that, I think, is a very good starting point," Tau told Daily Maverick, a South African news outlet, in an interview in New York on Sunday.
Tau arrived in the United States last week to support South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in trade-related engagements with American stakeholders, ahead of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In a separate interview with the South African Broadcasting Corporation, he described the trade discussions as "intense."
"There were discussions on Tuesday and Wednesday, quite intense discussions between the team. By the time we received the report jointly with the U.S. trade representative, there were indications that we were making significant progress in terms of the discussions and the way forward," the minister said.
The negotiations follow South Africa's submission of a trade framework in May and a revised proposal in August, both aimed at seeking relief from the 30 percent import tariffs imposed earlier in August.
"The past week was about snuggling down to a bit more detail. Negotiations in their very nature are not easy engagements. So we do anticipate that these would be difficult negotiations, as should be expected," said Tau.
Tau noted that the United States was going to give South Africa a "revised offer" early next week. "It would give us about two weeks to consider, to consult stakeholders, assist the departments, go to cabinet, get a mandate, and be able to respond. And from there, we'd be able to then get into the details of the negotiations," he said.
