US moves to strip South Africa's AGOA trade benefits
Government says it will keep pursuing trade and investment with Washington while backing the exporters and workers who rely on duty-free access to American markets.
The United States has announced its intention to withdraw South Africa’s benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the trade programme that gives qualifying African countries duty-free access to American markets.
The announcement puts AGOA preferences for South African exporters in question. The government said it remains committed to pursuing trade and investment between the two countries while supporting South African exporters and workers.
The statement, posted by Government South Africa on X, did not set out a timeline, name the products affected or say what support exporters would receive. It also did not say what steps, if any, South Africa would take in response.
The programme’s value to South Africa lies in the terms it gives exporters selling into the United States. Losing those terms would change the cost of doing that business for the firms that use them and for the workers they employ.
For now the withdrawal is an announced intention rather than a completed change, and the practical effect on specific exporters has not been set out in the material available.
