South Africa's rand was hovering near a three-month low on Thursday after being hit by a double-whammy of U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of new and higher tariffs and the passing of a contentious budget vote that has threatened the ruling coalition's future.

South African opposition party the Economic Freedom Fighters has written to the speaker of parliament seeking to block lawmakers from meeting on Wednesday to vote on the next stage of the budget process.

The second largest party in South Africa’s coalition, the business-friendly Democratic Alliance, launched a legal challenge on Thursday to block a 0.5% VAT increase in the country’s new budget, raising concerns that the fragile government could collapse.