SA’s biggest boat exporter breaks silence on tariffs – sends message to Trump 

South Africa’s biggest boatbuilding company has sent a blunt message to President Trump: US tariffs on SA imports are hurting maritime businesses in both countries. 

“My message to President Trump is that we can be great together – America First doesn’t mean South Africa last,” said Theo Looke, Chief Executive of Cape Town-based Robertson and Caine, one of the world’s largest producers of cruising catamarans. 

Looke was speaking after receiving an industry accolade at the South African Boat Builders Export Council (SABBEX) annual dinner in Cape Town on Friday night.

He said several Robertson and Caine staff had joined an industry lobby group pushing for a bilateral US-SA trade deal to replace the current 30% US tariff on a wide range of South African-made products.

The company had gathered 60 letters from US suppliers trading with South African yards. Their message was “if you harm the South African boatbuilders, then you are harming us”, Looke said. 

R&C are one of multiple local yards that export most of the yachts to the US, and are therefore affected by the tariffs, which came into effect in early August. Previously, South African boats enjoyed duty-free access into the US by virtue of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), signed into law in 2000 by then US President Bill Clinton. 

Despite tariffs, the South African government is still hoping Agoa will be renewed beyond the end of this month when it is due to expire.  

Recent media reports suggest Washington may indeed renew the free-trade deal that has served as a lifeline for many African economies that depend largely on exports to the US.  

There is also cautious optimism that the US administration may revise its 30% tariff amid ongoing bilateral trade talks.  

The talks reportedly encompass several priority areas, among them US concerns about black economic empowerment legislation and taxation on digital products (such as software). South Africa has offered some concessions in relation to US access to the SA market.  

SABBEX has been lobbying to have SA boats added to the list of exempted exports to the US due to the potential negative impact on both the local and US market.

“What is unique in the boatbuilding industry is that we are a very interdependent globally-based industry, with 40% to 60% of components that go into our catamarans coming from the US,” Davidson told International Boat Industry News in August.

“We can't look at ourselves as one side of the Atlantic and the other side of the Atlantic; we have this intrinsic connection that actually benefits both our economies at the same time,” Davidson said.