By Radarr Africa Business Desk
LAGOS, November 3 (Radarr Africa) – The United States has announced that South Africa and Rwanda will lose duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from January 1, 2027, in a decision that Pretoria says it will contest.
The US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, announced on Monday that President Donald Trump intends to end AGOA benefits for the two countries, citing “practices that are inconsistent with Agoa’s eligibility criteria”, according to Daily Maverick. The Citizen reported that the decision follows a letter from Trump to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in October.
For South Africa, the US administration cited barriers to US trade and investment, corruption, and threats to US national security and foreign policy interests, Daily Maverick and BusinessTech reported. The Citizen said Trump pointed to tariff and non-tariff barriers, including agricultural access, regulatory requirements, investment protections and intellectual property. He said he would keep monitoring South Africa’s progress and hoped it could regain eligibility, the paper reported.
Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau said South Africa has 60 days to respond before any suspension could take effect, according to Daily Maverick and BusinessTech. He said the government had responded constructively to US concerns and would support affected companies. “This decision does not define the broader relationship,” Tau said, as quoted by The Citizen.
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition said it had gone beyond the 2015 concessions and tabled additional ones through appropriate channels, The Citizen reported. It expressed frustration that the US was raising new issues that were not part of negotiations that began in 2025.
The department also stressed how little of South Africa’s trade depends on the programme. About 89 per cent of South African exports to the US entered under normal World Trade Organization rules in 2025, while AGOA accounted for roughly 10 per cent of exports to the US and about 1 per cent of total exports, according to The Citizen. Daily Maverick put AGOA exports at about $1.7 billion in 2025, down from $4 billion in 2024.
BusinessTech reported that AGOA, enacted in 2000, gives eligible sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access for more than 1,800 products, and that South Africa accounted for 54 per cent of AGOA-related exports to the US over 25 years. The programme expired in September 2025, was extended to December 2026 in February and was then extended to the end of 2028 in September, it said.
The tariff effect is modest on one estimate. BusinessTech said Wandile Sihlobo, the presidential envoy on agriculture, estimates that losing AGOA adds 3.4 percentage points to the 12.5 per cent tariff already in place, for a total of 15.9 per cent. Sihlobo stressed that the removal is not a trade ban, so exports can continue.
Citrus growers are among the most exposed. Daily Maverick reported that exporters of mandarins, lemons and grapefruit would face the normal US duty plus a 12.5 per cent Section 301 tariff, while oranges are excluded from that tariff. Citrus Growers Association chairman Gerrit van der Merwe warned of job losses, especially in the Western and Northern Cape. Minerals and precious metals, which made up almost two-thirds of exports to the US in 2025, carry no duties and are not AGOA-dependent, the paper reported.
US Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell III called the exclusion “predictable and preventable”, according to The Citizen, which said he blamed Pretoria’s policies. The Democratic Alliance’s international relations spokesman, Ryan Smith, called it a “devastating blow”, Daily Maverick reported.
Tau said the government is working with affected sectors to protect jobs and expand exports to Africa, Europe, Asia and Latin America, The Citizen reported. BusinessTech said Pretoria is also pursuing other markets, including the African Continental Free Trade Area, India, the European Union, the United Kingdom and China. Sihlobo said diversification does not replace existing markets: “These remain key, and we must work to retain our access to them.”
Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $28.8 billion in 2025, and more than 600 American companies operate in South Africa, supporting about 134,600 jobs, Daily Maverick reported.
