The visit of United States Ambassador, Leo Brent Bozell III, to Nelson Mandela Bay, has provided an opportunity for Chamber members that are either US-owned, invested in the US, or actively trading with the US to engage on trade related issues.
The Chamber, as a non-partisan and membership-based organisation, represents a broad spectrum of business interests and recognises the importance of an export-oriented economic growth strategy in which Nelson Mandela Bay's export basket is diversified by sector and product, as well as by destination market. This is vital for the retention and creation of employment and the stability of investment in our metro and the broader region.
The US is recognised as one of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition’s top three priority markets, alongside China and India. This is reflected in Nelson Mandela Bay’s current trading environment with the US being the metro’s fourth largest export market, with products such as vehicles, automotive components, other machinery and equipment, processed precious metals, ferro-alloys, citrus, mohair, and manganese exported from the Eastern Cape’s ports to the US.
The US currently accounts for a 3.1% share of Nelson Mandela Bay’s exports or, put another way, R2.2 billion of the Bay’s annual export basket, which was valued at R70.7 billion for the 12-months ending May 2026.
Additionally, the US is the Bay’s fourth largest source market for foreign tourists, and a fast-growing market at that; growing by 7.3% year-on-year for 2025.
The Chamber’s approach is agnostic and we are open to engaging with countries which have established tourism, trade and investment linkages with the Bay and are looking to continue to build upon these relations on a mutually beneficial basis. Additionally, we believe that it is vital that South Africa moves with speed to strengthen and deepen existing trade relationships and, at the same time, to diversify and broaden its trade relationships.
South Africa does not currently have the benefit of having a relatively fast-growing domestic market or population ‘demographic dividend’ and, as such, must aim to have mutually beneficial relationships in place with as many countries as possible; being an active partner in formations such as BRICS and the G20, without sacrificing other relationships.
The approach should thus be to build more “international friendships” and to balance and retain our existing trading partners in Europe, the Americas, Africa and other parts of the world, while simultaneously pushing for ambitious trade agreements within BRICS and proactively exploring ways to generate long-term mutually beneficial trade opportunities.
