European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen has announced plans to have billions of euros pumped into investments in South Africa, as Europe seeks to reassert its influence in a country in the crosshairs of the United States.
The investment package would mobilise $5 billion (4.7 billion euros) for South Africa, von der Leyen said at a summit with European Council President Antonio Costa and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday.
Most of it - $4.8 billion - would go to funding clean energy projects, such as harnessing the wind and the sun, and through the production of clean hydrogen, the EU said in a statement.
“We want to strengthen and diversify our supply chains. But we want to do it in cooperation with you," von der Leyen said.
"Some countries are interested in just extracting materials from the ground and exporting profits elsewhere. That is not our model. We want to support local jobs, local added value, and high environmental and labour standards."
The investment would also spend $760 million on ramping up vaccine manufacturing in South Africa, the continent's most industrialised economy.
"South Africa wants to protect the health of your people, as well as your autonomy and your local industries.
We Europeans want to diversify some of our most critical supply chains. This is what I call a true mutual interest," von der Leyen said.
TRT Global - The bank signalled the economic growth of Canada could slow in the first quarter of 2025 amid trade war caused by Trump's tariffs.
Trading partnership
South Africa is the EU's largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa, exporting goods worth some $26 billion euros in 2023 to the bloc, mostly minerals and automobiles.
The trade deficit is nonetheless tilted in favour of the EU, and total two-way trade was worth $53.8 billion in 2023.
EU foreign direct investment in South Africa was around $77 billion in 2022.
Both sides are grappling with dramatic policy shifts from Washington since the return of the United States President Donald Trump to the White House this year.
Trump's government has targeted the South African government, freezing crucial aid and criticising several of its policies.
Washington has meanwhile imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminium imports from the EU. On Thursday, President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 200 percent tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic products from the 27-nation bloc.
TRT Global - The increase of the tariffs set to take effect on Wednesday is a response to the price increases that the provincial government of Ontario put on electricity sold to the United States.
