Washington Moves to Strip South Africa and Rwanda of Duty-Free AGOA Access
The United States plans to suspend South Africa and Rwanda from duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday, Reuters reported. Greer said the President “found that the governments of Rwanda and South Africa are engaging in practices that are inconsistent with AGOA’s eligibility criteria.” Reports say the suspension would start in January.
For Rwanda, Washington cited trade barriers, rule of law and human rights; Rwanda was previously suspended from AGOA in 2018. For South Africa, it cited barriers to US trade and investment, corruption and threats to US national security and foreign policy interests. The Trump administration has accused South Africa of persecuting white people, which Pretoria says is false, and has objected to South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
South Africa was AGOA’s largest beneficiary, exporting about $1.7 billion of goods to the US under the programme in 2025, which its trade ministry says is about 10% of its exports to the US and about 1% of its global exports. Neither government had responded immediately. South Africa’s trade ministry said last week it was prepared for a negative outcome and open to dialogue, and President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country must prepare to be cut out and is seeking new markets and trade deals, including with China.
Source: reuters.com
