US Suspends South Africa, Rwanda From Key African Trade Program

Authored by Owen Evans via The Epoch Times,

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Nov. 2 that Washington will suspend South Africa and Rwanda from its duty-free trade program for sub-Saharan Africa, citing failures on trade barriers, corruption, governance, and human rights.

“President Trump found that the governments of Rwanda and South Africa are engaging in practices that are inconsistent with [the African Growth and Opportunity Act’s] eligibility criteria,” Greer said in a statement, adding that there are threats to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests in both countries.

The Trump administration said it is “deeply concerned” by South Africa’s barriers to U.S. trade and investment, and corruption. Regarding Rwanda, the U.S. government cited issues with the rule of law, political pluralism, and internationally recognized worker rights and human rights.

Greer notified Congress that the two countries would be suspended from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from Jan. 1, 2027.

Enacted in 2000, AGOA provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the U.S. market for thousands of products.

But as a rule, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative says that to meet AGOA’s “rigorous eligibility” requirements, countries have to “establish or make continual progress toward establishing a market-based economy, the rule of law, political pluralism, and the right to due process.”

Additionally, it said countries must eliminate barriers to U.S. trade and investment, enact policies to reduce poverty, combat corruption, and protect human rights.

According to a 2023 U.S. Trade Representative factsheet, South Africa was the top AGOA supplier ($3.6 billion), providing mostly vehicles and parts, fruits, precious metals, and chemicals.

The Trump administration has taken a series of measures against South Africa, accusing its government of persecuting white South Africans.

On Feb. 7, 2025, Trump issued an executive order suspending all U.S. foreign aid to South Africa.

The order also stated that the Trump administration would promote the resettlement of “Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation” in South Africa. On May 12, nearly 60 white South Africans arrived in the United States as the first group granted asylum under the president’s resettlement program.

“It is regrettable that South African policies led to the termination of AGOA for South Africa,” U.S. Ambassador to South Africa L. Brent Bozell III said in a Nov. 3 post on X.

Bozell said this was a “predictable and preventable outcome resulting from the rejection by South Africa’s government of real concerns” raised by the U.S. government.

“I remain hopeful that we can find a path forward to address our larger bilateral concerns, but the South African government must understand the gravity of the situation,” he said.

South Africa’s trade ministry said on Nov. 2 that it would continue to “accelerate the diversification of South Africa’s export markets.”

“AGOA remains important to South Africa, but it does not constitute the totality of the economic relationship between South Africa and the United States,” it said in a statement.

The top Democratic lawmaker on the House Ways and Means Committee said that for the Trump administration “to abandon South Africa and strip them of that progress and opportunity over a debunked fixation on anti-apartheid efforts is unconscionable.”

“It’s yet another trade decision grounded in grievance that flies in the face of what responsible policy should be,” Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said.

Rwanda is a much smaller trading nation than South Africa. Its apparel benefits under AGOA were previously restricted in July 2018, under the first Trump administration, after Rwanda increased tariffs on imported secondhand clothing.

On Oct. 28, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on the Rwandan Ministry of Defence and Zigama Credit and Savings Society, a Rwandan financial institution that it said played a key role in facilitating Rwanda’s support for the March 23 Movement (M23) and its political wing, the Congo River Alliance.

M23 is a U.S.- and U.N.-designated armed group that has illegally seized territory in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

OFAC claimed that with support from Rwanda’s security apparatus, M23 has “captured key population centers and mining areas in eastern DRC,” where it has perpetrated “human rights abuses, subjected civilians to exploitation and forced labor, and contributed to a severe humanitarian crisis marked by mass displacement.”

Rwanda has denied backing M23. The Epoch Times has contacted the Rwandan government for comment.

Reuters, Emel Akan, and Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.