Possibilities open on early Agoa renewal, says trade minister Parks Tau

Minister of trade, industry and competition Parks Tau said while people in the US Congress were keen to assure South Africa that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) will be reauthorised, the jury is out on whether this will happen before the US presidential election in November.

The Agoa is an act of the US Congress which allows duty-free access to products between the US and some African states and their respective markets.

Tau led a South African delegation to the US last week. It attended the Agoa Forum to make the case for its early reauthorisation before the presidential election.

Briefing reporters in parliament on Tuesday morning, Tau said the delegation set the right tone when unpacking the government of national unity to the Americans, securing bipartisan support for Agoa’s reauthorisation and South Africa’s continued participation.

“We received strong bipartisan backing from the US Congress and our colleagues in the US administration for the reauthorisation of Agoa. The mutually beneficial economic and trade partnership is highlighted by more than 600 US businesses operating in South African and with more than 1.3-million jobs created in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

Tau outlined three scenarios for the timing of Agoa’s reauthorisation:.

• the most ideal scenario would be reauthorisation before the presidential election to ensure certainty;
• the second scenario is a renewal between the US election and the presidential inauguration; and
• the third and least ideal scenario was reauthorisation after the inauguration in early 2025.

Concerns have arisen that the Republican Party would be hostile towards South Africa’s participation in Agoa if Republican candidate Donald Trump is elected president over Democrat candidate and Vice-President Kamala Harris.

However, Tau said none of the Republican congressmen the South African delegation met were against South Africa being in Agoa, despite South Africa declining to speak out against Russia's military campaign in Ukraine and the country’s International Court of Justice case against Israel over its Gaza assault.

“Many of the parties we engaged with said they respect an unaligned position. They, however, perceived that South Africa might not, in certain instances, have articulated its non-alignment in a manner that is demonstrable.

“It’s a matter we’ve said we’re prepared to engage with and we are prepared to discuss that there might be concerns. However, the general respect for South Africa’s non-aligned position is broadly respected.”

Tau said a US bill seeking the review of South Africa’s continued participation in Agoa was passed by the house and was before the Senate.

“Of course we are engaging senators with regards to how they engage the bill. It has already been passed so we have to engage with the next step of the process.

“If it is passed [by the Senate], it still has to go to the president for his [or her] signature before such review is implemented. We will continue to engage with all the parties involved in the two other steps on the matter.”

Tau said South Africa and other African states were pursuing a regional agreement with the US which is linked to the African Continental Free Trade Agreement to allow Agoa to work in tandem with the continental agreement.

Business Times