特朗普政府从未掩饰其与南非的外交争端——无论是惩罚性关税、签证限制，还是美国驻比勒陀利亚大使发出的言外威胁，都让比勒陀利亚对其在《非洲增长与机会法案》中的前景感到焦虑。但地缘政治并不能讲完整个故事。
Tiisetso’s view The Trump administration has never hidden its diplomatic feud with South Africa — whether it be punishing tariffs, visa restrictions, or the US ambassador to Pretoria issuing thinly veiled threats that have left Pretoria sweating over its future in the African Growth and Opportunity Act. But geopolitics doesn’t tell the whole story.
作为美国最古老的工业公司之一，阿尔科亚（Alcoa）大概是董事会对外交风波表现出极高容忍度的“A号证据”。这家全球铝业生产商于7月签署了一项超过50亿美元的交易，收购包括南非希尔赛德（Hillside）铝冶炼厂在内的资产。阿尔科亚首席执行官威廉·奥普林格（William Oplinger）对投资者表示，他在最近与西里尔·拉马福萨（Cyril Ramaphosa）总统的会晤中曾说：“我们希望长期扎根希尔赛德。”
Alcoa, one of America’s oldest industrial companies, is probably Exhibit A when it comes to showing that boardrooms have an extraordinarily high tolerance for diplomatic drama. The global aluminum producer in July signed a $5 billion-plus deal to buy assets, including the Hillside aluminum smelter in South Africa. “We want to be in Hillside for the long term,” William Oplinger, Alcoa’s CEO, told investors what he’d said to President Cyril Ramaphosa in a recent meeting.
奥普林格的这番言论及其对比勒陀利亚的访问，使这笔交易超越了标准的并购交易范畴，成为观察美南关系更广泛走向的一个风向标。
Oplinger’s comment, and his visit to Pretoria, elevate the deal beyond a standard M&A transaction into a gauge of the broader US-South Africa relationship.
此外，就在这个月，美国交通巨头韦伯科（Wabtec）与南非国有企业Transnet签署了一项数百万美元的交易。亚马逊的“柯伊伯计划”（Project Kuiper）选定南非作为其在非洲的首个卫星发射地，微软正在扩大其人工智能基础设施布局，思科（Cisco）也在深化其在当地的布局。据南非美国商会统计，与政治氛围背道而驰的是，2025年双边贸易额增长超过10%，达到290亿美元。
What’s more, just this month, Wabtec, a US transportation juggernaut, signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Transnet, a South African state-owned company. Amazon’s Project Kuiper picked South Africa for its first African satellite launch, Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure, while Cisco is deepening its presence, too. And at odds with politics, two-way trade grew more than 10% in 2025 to $29 billion, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa.
南非驻华盛顿大使罗尔夫·梅耶（Roelf Meyer）上周不带感情色彩地对我同事Yinka Adegoke表示：“商业不一定由政治主导。商业是由底线主导的。就是这样，句号。”美国董事会似乎已经认清一个简单事实：南非仍然是全球最具吸引力的关键矿产储藏地之一，拥有全球约80%的铂族金属、非洲大陆最深厚的资本市场，并通往区域供应链的门户。
Roelf Meyer, South Africa’s ambassador in Washington, unsentimentally told my colleague Yinka Adegoke last week that “business is not necessarily led by politics. Business is led by the bottom line. That is it, full stop.”US boardrooms appear to have acknowledged the simple fact that South Africa remains one of the world’s most attractive repositories of critical minerals, home to roughly 80% of platinum group metals, the continent’s deepest capital markets, and a gateway to regional supply chains.
综合来看，他们的行为与“美国资本认同美国官员对南非是个问题的评估”这一观念背道而驰。
Taken together, their actions belie the notion that American capital agrees with American officials’ assessment that South Africa is a problem.
值得关注的是，美国国际开发金融公司计划增加对非洲及关键矿产领域的直接股权投资，因为美国正加大力度，以遏制中国对关键供应链的主导地位，路透社报道。
Notable The US International Development Finance Corp plans to increase direct equity investments in Africa and the critical minerals sector, as the US steps up efforts to counter China’s dominance of key supply chains, Reuters reported.