South Africa and Rwanda lose access to U.S.’ AGOA trade pact

South Africa and Rwanda have lost their duty-free access to the U.S. granted under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which Pretoria had lobbied hard to retain.

U.S. President Donald “Trump found that the governments of Rwanda and South Africa are engaging in practices that are inconsistent with AGOA’s eligibility criteria,” U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer said 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.”

Tensions between Rwanda and the U.S. have deteriorated over Kigali’s involvement in the conflict in neighboring 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 U.S. and the region since its inception in 2000.

“This will be a loss not just for us, but the U.S. consumer will lose, too,” the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa said in a statement following the news. “Seasonal fresh produce does not threaten U.S. jobs. It helps keep America healthy, and also helps contain food inflation,” said CGA chief executive officer Boitshoko Ntshabele.

The Trump administration’s concerns about Rwanda include barriers to trade and investment, the rule of law and political pluralism, according to the statement. In South Africa, it said, the administration is deeply concerned about barriers to U.S. trade and investment, corruption and threats to U.S. national security and foreign-policy interests.

“It’s yet another trade decision grounded in grievance that flies in the face of what responsible policy should be,” Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement. “The power of our trade laws shouldn’t be twisted so Trump can further policies based on biased accusations made by those in his orbit looking to settle scores.”

After returning to power, Trump quickly froze U.S. assistance to South Africa, falsely claiming the government is allowing a genocide of white Afrikaner farmers. Trump has also criticized 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 penalize its automobile sector, potentially putting jobs at risk in a country with one of the highest levels of unemployment in the world.