By Lesedi Sibiya-Diplomatic Insider 

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which was established in the year 2000, is an economic policy that was established by America in order to provide eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the U.S market for over 1,800 products, with 5,000 products being eligible for duty free access under the Generalized System of Preferences Program. What “duty-free access” means is exemption from national taxes and import duties that apply to goods sold to a particular country. 

After 25 years of sub-saharan African trading with America under this policy, threats of the United States ending this policy deal are looming largely with the Donald Trump administration as it is set to end from Tuesday 30 September 2025.

 South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is pleading with the American government to renew the policy as South Africa still intends to foster a strong trading relationship with the United States. 

“In South Africa, it has supported jobs from auto-assembly plants to farms to high-tech manufacturing hubs,” said Ramaphosa at the SA-US Trade and Investment Executive Dialogue in New York yesterday. 

The renewal of this policy is not only for the benefit of South Africa but to the United States as well because of the US companies that operate in South Africa as there are over 600 companies that are operating in SA that depend on reliable imports. 

Another imperative in regards to AGOA being renewed is that the US companies that operate in South Africa provide jobs for South African citizens and without this policy in places it may hurt the investments that are laid in South Africa which puts many people at risk of unemployment.

 Since the policy was established $100 billion worth of non-crude products have been exported to the United States via African beneficiary countries. 

Supporters of this legislation are hoping for Congress to make a last-minute extension on the policy, however hopes around this idea seem unlikely, especially because of the lateness of this extension request.

 Another reason why the Trump administration may seem less inclined to grant an extension on this policy is that the administration feels that this policy agreement is non-reciprocal, which is at the core of why Trump and his administration have increased tariff prices in order to close the gap in trade revenues.

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his delegation which includes Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Parks Tau, will continue to fight and plead with America to reconsider allowing AGOA to expire, however with Trump’s rampant tariff becoming increasingly prevalent, the outcome of this seems unlikely.