Trump plans to remove South Africa from AGOA trade programme amid diplomatic tensions
What happened
President Donald Trump has told Congress he intends to pull South Africa and Rwanda out of the AGOA trade programme from 1 January 2027.
AGOA lets eligible African countries sell thousands of goods to the American market without paying import duties, according to the BBC.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said an annual review found both governments follow practices that break the programme's entry rules.
Washington pointed to barriers facing American business and to risks for US security and foreign policy; for Rwanda it also cited human rights and workers' rights.
The step follows a sharp decline in ties with Pretoria since Trump returned to office in January 2025, including a halt to US aid and the expulsion of South Africa's ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool.
Greer said the administration is working with African partners so they can still meet the criteria.
“This was a predictable and preventable outcome resulting from the rejection by South Africa's government of real concerns raised by the US”
BBC
Summary written by AI from 2 independent sources (IOL, BBC) and checked automatically against them for copied text and numbers that are not in the sources. How we work
Open on the live globe →Who reported it
- 2026-11-02 17:09 UTCTimesLIVE · timeslive.co.za ↗
- 2026-11-02 18:49 UTCIOL · iol.co.za ↗
- 2026-11-02 19:14 UTCNYT · nytimes.com ↗
- 2026-11-02 19:33 UTCBBC · bbc.co.uk ↗
- 2026-11-02 20:17 UTCAfricanews · africanews.com ↗
- 2026-11-02 21:21 UTCMyJoyOnline same text as BBC · myjoyonline.com ↗
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