South Africa, Rwanda lose access to preferential US Trade Pact.

The United States (US) has decided to remove South Africa and Rwanda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), ending duty-free access to its markets for key industries.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday ​that Washington intends to suspend South ‌Africa and Rwanda from duty-free access to the US market under the African Growth and Opportunity ​Act.

“President Trump found that the governments of ​Rwanda and South Africa are engaging ⁠in practices that are inconsistent with AGOA’s ​eligibility criteria,” Greer said in a statement.

AGOA gives ​eligible African countries duty-free access to the US market for thousands of products. South Africa has benefited ​from it for years.

AGOA beneficiaries are ​expected to adhere to eligibility requirements around maintaining market-based ‌economies ⁠and good governance as well as eliminating barriers to U.S. investments and trade, with Washington carrying out regular reviews.

AGOA was enacted in 2000, and South Africa has been the largest beneficiary of the programme over the last 25 years, accounting for 54% of all AGOA-related exports to the US.

The programme provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the US market for more than 1,800 products.

This is in addition to the more than 5,000 products eligible for duty-free access under the Generalised System of Preferences programme.

The programme expired in September 2025, but was retroactively extended to December 2026 back in February.

It was finally extended to the end of 2028 at the end of September. However, with diplomatic ties between South Africa and the US fraying over the past two years, its continued eligibility was in question.