Pretoria, July 8 -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday slammed the unilateral imposition of a 30 per cent trade tariff by US President Donald Trump, describing it as "not an accurate representation" of the trade data available between the US and South Africa.

In a statement following Trump's announcement of the tariff on the African nation, which will be effective from August 1, Ramaphosa responded by contesting the interpretation of trade data that underpins the tariff, highlighting discrepancies in the trade figures.

"This 30% tariff is based on a particular interpretation of the balance of trade between South Africa and the United States. This contested interpretation forms part of the issues under consideration by th...