Freedom Front Plus says South Africa has been kicked out of AGOA and warns of mass job losses
The party says agriculture and vehicle manufacturing will be hit hardest by the loss of the US trade agreement, and that the country cannot afford the jobs it will cost.
The Freedom Front Plus says South Africa has been removed from its AGOA trade agreement with the United States, and that the country should expect to carry the consequences.
In a post on X on Monday, the party said South Africa had spent too long alienating and insulting one of its biggest trade partners while embracing its enemies, despite warnings from various sides. The result, it said, is that the country has been kicked out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act arrangement with the US.
The party put the cost in plain terms. The consequences for South Africa are enormous and extensive, it said. Substantial job losses will follow, jobs the country simply cannot afford. The economy in general will be dealt a severe blow, it said, and sectors such as agriculture and vehicle manufacturing in particular.
The post links to a fuller statement carrying the same argument.
AGOA is the US trade preference programme that has given many South African goods duty-free access to the American market. Agriculture and vehicle manufacturing are among the sectors that have relied on it most.
The party’s statement does not set out which products lose their access, when the change takes effect, or how many jobs it expects to go. Those are the questions its claim now rests on, and they are the questions South African exporters, farmworkers and car plants will be asking before the next season and the next model year.
The Enquirer has not been able to establish, from the material available, the formal terms of the change the party describes.
