Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has walked a diplomatic tightrope, accepting aid and investment from both China and America.
But in recent months Donald Trump’s administration has slapped Africa’s largest economy with 30% tariffs, cut aid, and baselessly accused its president, Cyril Ramaphosa, of presiding over a “white genocide”.
Now, China is offering tax-free trade and an alternative model for economic growth, and some in South Africa are asking if they really need American support.
David Rennie, The Economist’s geopolitics editor, is joined by John McDermott, our chief Africa correspondent, and they ask: is China the answer to South Africa’s Trump problem?
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