South Africa can get a nasty early Christmas gift from the United States

South Africa is likely to receive a nasty Christmas gift from the United States: its removal from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). 

The White House is currently reviewing participating countries, with the final list set to be announced on 1 November 2026. 

AGOA is a United States trade law that provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the American market. 

This is the world’s largest consumer market, and the act aims to help uplift developing nations by giving them a competitive advantage. 

To qualify, countries must make progress towards a market-based economy, maintain the rule of law and basic human rights, and eliminate barriers to trade with America. 

South Africa’s participation has long been questioned, given its level of industrialisation, economic scale, and sophistication relative to other African countries. 

More recently, the question of South Africa’s participation has shifted towards its foreign policy, which some in the United States view as hostile to America’s interests. 

US Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell III has been clear that the ANC’s close relations with Iran threaten the African country’s relations with America. 

As one of the United States’ Five Asks, America is putting pressure on South Africa’s government to end close relations with Iran. 

It views these relations as hostile to American interests, along with South Africa’s critiques of Israel and neutral stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Bozell has made it clear that South Africa has not sufficiently addressed these demands, as it maintains close relations with Iran and Russia. 

South Africa has hosted Russian and Iranian warships in its harbours in recent years, drawing American anger and frustration. 

The government has said it will not buckle to demands from the United States, as its ability to exercise its own foreign policy is central to sovereignty. 

Wave AGOA goodbye

The South African government’s stubbornness may result in the country being removed from AGOA and losing the benefits of duty-free access to the American market. 

Trade union Solidarity warned that the possibility of South Africa being removed from AGOA is growing by the day.

“Concerns about South Africa’s participation have intensified over the past week as the diplomatic dispute between South Africa and the United States (US) has escalated,” it said. 

In particular, the union warned that Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola’s statements during a recent visit to America have created grounds for South Africa’s removal. 

This has been coupled with Lamola’s department deciding to summon Bozell for his third diplomatic reprimand on 29 September. 

Solidarity’s research shows that South Africa’s removal from AGOA will affect 250,000 jobs that are partially or fully dependent on the agreement. 

Half a million jobs in South Africa are dependent on trade with the United States. 

The trade union said it is deeply concerned that ending South Africa’s participation in AGOA could now form part of the US’s escalating actions against the country. 

“Exclusion from AGOA would be a swift and clear punitive measure that could be announced within weeks,” it said. 

“Solidarity considers the situation serious enough to treat it as an emergency and is calling on the South African government to resume talks and negotiations with the US government.”

The organisation believes that South Africa and the United States can find common ground, but said the government’s actions are increasingly being seen as hostile in Washington, D.C. 

“The South African government has four weeks left to prevent the country from being kicked out of AGOA. South Africa’s diplomatic stance towards the US is reckless,” Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said. 

“Minister Lamola has probably driven the final nail into the coffin of South Africa’s AGOA participation. Our participation in AGOA is in danger, but solutions are still possible.”

Hermann said Lamola failed to seek solutions to the diplomatic dispute during his visit to the US, instead creating the impression that South Africa is aligning itself with opponents of the Trump administration.