Jake Morris

Jan 8, 2025 | businesslive.co.za | Jake Morris

Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers. Containers to be loaded at the Port of East London are shown in this file photo. SA is ranked 39th in the International Trade Barrier index and is in the least protective half of the index. Picture ALAN EASON Localisation bashing is in vogue.

Oct 24, 2024 | businesslive.co.za | Jake Morris

The actor Matt Damon is an unlikely source of inspiration for industrial policy. Yet he offers sage advice when, revealing the secret to his creative process, he says: “Judge me on how good my good ideas are, not how bad my bad ideas are.” Industrial policy is essentially about governments deciding to invest in and promote specific industries, usually within the manufacturing sector. An example is the US deciding recently that it wants to be a global leader in the supply of microchips...

Oct 1, 2024 | businesslive.co.za | Jake Morris

Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers. Workers carry out duties at a factory in Heidelberg, Gauteng. Factories made the modern world and they will keep remaking it, the writer says. File photo: ELIZABETH SEJAKE/GALLO IMAGES SA’s manufacturing sector is not doing well.

Oct 1, 2024 | businesslive.co.za | Jake Morris

Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers. Workers carry out duties at a factory in Heidelberg, Gauteng. Factories made the modern world and they will keep remaking it, the writer says. File photo: ELIZABETH SEJAKE/GALLO IMAGES SA’s manufacturing sector is not doing well.

Aug 19, 2024 | businesslive.co.za | Jake Morris

First, our cars are not more expensive than elsewhere, because almost every other country also imposes tariffs on imported vehicles: India has a 125% duty, Thailand 80%, Brazil 35% and the US 27.5%. Furthermore, every country in the world with an automotive industry bans second-hand imports, so we’re on par with those countries too. Second, it is not true the taxpayer foots the R31bn subsidy bill. In fact, only about R2bn is funded by the taxpayer. The rest comes from the import duties themselves.