Zimbabwe, SA trade war looms

South Africa, Zimbabwe's major trading partner exporting over 70 percent of its products into the country, has lodged a formal complaint to government over import restrictions.

Zimbabwe has imposed duties on South African imports to protect local producers, violating trade agreements between the two countries.

There has been an upsurge of imports from South Africa since the rand started depreciating against the US dollar. This has made the landed prices of South African products lower than those produced in Zimbabwe.

The complaint by South Africa follows a raft of measures that have undermined competition by South African products on the local market.