Is a 50% car tariff protection… or punishment?
In this episode of Number of the Day, Francis Herd and Gareth Edwards unpack a proposal that could reshape what South Africans pay for cars: tariffs on imported vehicles from China and India being weighed at levels as high as 50%, up from the current 25%.
The conversation traces the tension inside the same headline. On one side: local manufacturing, jobs, and the argument that South Africa can’t build an auto industry while being flooded by cheaper imports. On the other: real-life affordability; if you raise tariffs, the end consumer still ends up paying, and entry-level cars get further out of reach.
They also break down the technical bit without making it painful: what “dumping” means, why policymakers are even talking about anti-dumping tools, and why the industry itself is wary of a blunt, maximum-hit approach.
The number of the day is 50% and the question is who it protects most.
