A Day in the Life of a Global Entrepreneur Who Must Survive Trump’s Tariff War

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on April 10, 2025

Durban, South Africa.

Since Donald Trump's return to the White House in January, I have had to follow his every move on international commerce and trade.  Trump's on-again/off-again tariff war has estranged friend and foe alike, leading many to wonder why the administration couldn't have been more measured, clear, and focused with its tariff plan.

I lead a company called OxyNol Solutions. We are working with our local project development team in the Durban/Mandeni region of South Africa each day to design, finance, build, commission, and operate a $300 million USD commercial-scale waste-to-fuel facility in the country. Considerable progress has been made on the project development to-date.

International financing organizations in South Africa and India are assisting OxyNol Solutions with project financing.  Our Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management (EPCM) team is comprised of EPC experts in Canada, Greece, Serbia, and the U.S. 

Major equipment packages and building materials are sourced from manufacturers in targeted countries on Trump’s tariff list.  Based upon OxyNol Solutions' FEL engineering plans and specifications, the pricing for the company's equipment packages and building materials, alone, was originally estimated at nearly $120 million USD.

Trump’s on-again/off-again tariff war has placed a cloud over OxyNol Solutions’ current pre-construction price estimates.  At this juncture, the company will likely need updated price quotes on these equipment packages and building materials for delivery to our financing partners.

On Monday, OxyNol Solutions signed a $250,000 contract with a team of EPC experts to support the company during the process of securing an updated quotation for equipment packages, building materials, and overall construction costs for a qualified and capable EPC firm that must deliever the project on a maximum guaranteed price.

As such, Trump’s tariff war has already cost OxyNol Solutions $250,000 in additional project development costs for updated price quotations.  What is more, Trump’s baseless rants about White Afrikaners being killed in South Africa and fleeing the country as "refugees" are wholly inaccurate, inflammatory, and reckless.  Many of our local vendors on this project are White Afrikaners who paint a very different picture from Trump on life and working conditions in beautiful South Africa.

Trump has a flare for making grossly exaggerated and baseless claims about nearly everything.  He is also known, domestically and internationally, for making impulsive moves that hurt innocent people, businesses, and countries that are minding their own business.  Additionally, Trump views well-developed, modern African nations as “shithole countries.”

OxyNol Solutions is experiencing the same tariff war angst that thousands of U.S.-based businesses and Tier 1 global private equity firms are experiencing.  In a complex and interrelated business world, we must now keep an watchful eye on the strength of the U.S. dollar, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, supply chains, political instability in the U.S., potential Wall Street meltdowns, and Trump’s recurring threat of a tariff war.