Goodbye, AGOA: United States deals new blow to South Africa

South Africa and Rwanda lost their duty-free access to the US granted under the African Growth and Opportunity Act that Pretoria had lobbied hard to retain.

President Donald Trump found that the governments of Rwanda and South Africa are engaging in practices that are inconsistent with AGOA’s eligibility criteria.

This is according to US Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer in a statement on Monday.

“These concerning and pervasive practices include, but are not limited to, barriers that undermine American trade and investment that pose a threat to U.S. national security,” Greer said.

Tensions between Rwanda and the US have deteriorated over Kigali’s involvement in the conflict in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

For South Africa, the government has been bracing for bad news on its continued eligibility for AGOA as ties between Washington and Pretoria have frayed since Trump returned to the White House in 2025.

AGOA grants tariff-free access to the world’s largest economy for more than 1,800 products and has helped to boost trade between the US and the region since its inception in 2000.

According to the statement, the Trump administration’s concerns about Rwanda include barriers to trade and investment, the rule of law and political pluralism.

In South Africa, it said, the administration is deeply concerned about barriers to US trade and investment, corruption and threats to US national security and foreign-policy interests.

After returning to power, Trump quickly froze US assistance to South Africa, falsely claiming the government is allowing a genocide of White Afrikaner farmers.

Trump has also criticised the country’s Black economic-empowerment laws, which were introduced to address inequalities created by apartheid.

South African Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau told reporters on Friday the country was ready for whatever decision Washington reached, and that the US would remain a valued partner.

America ranks as South Africa’s third-biggest trading partner, after China and the European Union.

Bilateral trade between South Africa and the US last year was $24.1 billion — less than half the $55.6 billion of commerce with China, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 

Pretoria has been trying to agree a broader trade deal with Washington after Trump unveiled harsh tariffs that penalise its automobile sector, potentially putting jobs at risk in a country with one of the highest levels of unemployment in the world.