SA moves to avoid possible Agoa expulsion

SA is devising a government-wide strategy to navigate the Trump administration’s tit-for-tat approach to global trade and as a pre-emptive measure against an expected expulsion from preferential access to US markets through the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa). According to a Business Day report, factored in the ‘comprehensive Trump strategy’ will be how SA can find other markets for its exports if the US imposes harsher measures against the country, said senior officials in the Department of International Relations & Co-operation. ‘We are in a difficult space because we are dealing with an unpredictable administration,’ one official said, adding that the influence of Afrikaner lobby groups in America – particularly among the Republicans in shaping the US agenda – complicated matters further. ‘Trump has a group of South Africans who are part of his inner core who are opposed to transformation and the message they are giving to him is finding fertile ground.’ For SA, retaining its status as a beneficiary is crucial as Agoa provides preferential access for about 20% of the country’s exports to the US, or 2% of its shipments globally. Since Agoa’s introduction, the value of SA’s automotive exports to the US has surged to R27.9bn in 2023, the last year for which official figures have been published. SA is also a beneficiary of non-reciprocal preferential tariff treatment under the US Generalised System of Preferences. The government’s delegation to the US has not yet been appointed by the President. The yet-to-be-appointed envoys are expected to present the Trump administration with bilateral trade package deals to accommodate the administration’s transactional approach to foreign policy.