The Free Market Foundation (FMF) is urging government to scrap “all non-essential” import tariffs and embark on sweeping, unilateral trade liberalisation in the wake of Washington’s 30% levy on South African exports. In a report, Troubled Waters: Rescuing South Africa from a Tariff Disaster, senior associate Dr Morné Malan argues that tariffs at home or abroad “stifle innovation, inflate prices and disproportionately harm the poor,” and that retaliatory measures would only deepen local economic distress.

The FMF proposes repealing every tariff imposed since 2019, save for those linked to genuine security concerns, and inserting a five-year sunset clause on all remaining duties. It also wants the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) abolished and replaced by an agency mandated to lower barriers, a legal presumption of free trade written into statute, digital customs processes modelled on Singapore, and the removal of discriminatory licensing and quota rules. Capital controls liberalisation and a constitutional guarantee of trade openness round out the blueprint.

Quoting Mauritius’s surge from US$4 000 GDP per capita in 1995 to US$10 000 in 2022 after slashing tariffs, the report frames free trade as a proven route to higher productivity and jobs. “Protectionism is a tax on the poor, masquerading as progress,” says FMF policy head Martin van Staden, while chief executive David Ansara adds that trade “is a bond of cooperation that enriches all parties.” The think-tank urges Pretoria to diversify markets via the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and deepen ties with Asia and Europe rather than retreat behind tariff walls.