Economists weigh impact of US uranium import tariff plans

The implementation by the US of tariffs on uranium imports could significantly affect the uranium mining industry in South Africa but would have minimal impact on the economy as a whole. Economist Mike Schüssler told FTW that while US import tariffs would hurt the industry, it wasn’t important to the economy with only R1.5 billion earned from uranium exports over the past five years. “In an economy of R4.2 trillion, uranium exports account for less than a quarter of a tenth of a percent,” he said. “So while it will hurt the people involved in the sector it won’t impact on the bigger picture. “We have at least eight to 10 minerals that we export that are worth a whole lot more.” US secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross, last week announced a national security investigation into uranium ore and product imports into the United States which could see the implementation of tariffs along the same lines as steel and aluminium. Schüssler pointed out that not only was the revenue made by uranium exports largely insignificant, unlike diamond exports it was not very clear where South Africa’s uranium exports were headed. He said that it was probable that a majority of the country’s uranium did not go to the US but rather to places like Iran, France, and Japan. The Minerals Council of South Africa expressed similar sentiments. Its spokesperson, Charmane Russell, noted that uranium production in the country had declined from 915 861 kilograms in 2003 to 450 110 kilograms in 2016, in tandem with lower gold production over the last decade. In its latest facts and figures booklet (2017), the council pointed out that due to disastrous nuclear events such as the 2011 meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan, and the increase in renewable energy sources, the use of nuclear energy had stagnated. A research report by the South African Institute of International Affairs reveals that 18% of the world’s uranium comes from Africa – Namibia, Niger, and South Africa, in that order