Trump plans to remove South Africa from AGOA trade programme amid diplomatic tensions

United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced Monday that Washington intends to exclude South Africa and Rwanda from duty-free access to the U.S. market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Punch Nigeria reported that the decision is due to practices deemed inconsistent with the deal's eligibility criteria.

The Winnipeg Free Press stated that President Donald Trump will cut the two nations from the quarter-century-old agreement at the end of the year as punishment for failing to meet certain criteria, including trade barrier policies and alignment with U.S. foreign policy.

SABC News reported that AGOA provides eligible African countries with duty-free access to the U.S. for thousands of products, noting that South Africa was the program's largest beneficiary, exporting approximately $1.7 billion in goods to the U.S. in 2025. According to SABC News, Washington expressed concerns regarding Rwanda involving human rights, the rule of law, and trade barriers.

Regarding South Africa, the outlet stated that the U.S. is concerned with corruption, threats to national security and foreign policy interests, and barriers to U.S. trade and investment. SABC News also noted that the Trump administration has cracked down on South Africa over what Trump describes as the persecution of white people.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria, Winnipeg Free Press, Punch, SABC News — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.