By 
President Donald Trump now holds the ace card in his hand as the future of South Africa in the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) depends on his signature.
Pretoria and Washington DC have been on loggerheads since Trump assumed the apex office in the United States. Donald Trump has slapped South Africa with retaliatory tariffs for siding with its enemies amongst other things; the recent expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from South Africa also put the country’s stay in AGOA at risk.
The Senate in January this year voted to extend AGOA and retain South Africa as one of the eligible Sub-Saharan countries by a majority of 340 to 54 vote of support. The Senate has now passed the Bill of incorporating the extension of AGOA for a further one year; however, the President of the United States of America needs to sign off on it.
The Minister for the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) Parks Tau, has noted the passage of the Bill incorporating the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. He says the AGOA extension comes at a time when South Africa continues to engage constructively with the United States on an Agreement on Reciprocal Tariffs (ART) which seeks to reduce the 30% tariff imposed by the US on goods exported from South Africa.
“This extension will provide some relief to South African products exported under the scheme. We are however, concerned by the short nature of the extension and we hope the United States will use this opportunity provided by the short extension towards a programme that will provide certainty around investment and purchasing decisions. AGOA was designed to promote export diversification and encourage investment,” Tau said.
“We continue to engage constructively with the US administration and believe that a healthy trade relationship benefits both our countries,” he continued.
Given the tensions between the two states, it remains to be seen whether Trump will assent to the extension.
According to the South African Revenue Services (SARS) data, SA-US total bilateral trade was $15 billion in 2024, with South Africa’s exports at $8 billion and imports at $7 billion resulting in a trade surplus of US$1 billion, dominated by South Africa’s exports of commodities.
South Africa’s exports in 2025 (January to September) stood at $5.9 billion. In 2024, SA exports to the US consisted of platinum (25.4%); followed by Articles of precious metals (18.7%) and motor vehicles (16.5%); Diamonds (7.3%); Gold (4.7%). Under AGOA, the major South African exports were automotives, ferro-alloys, citrus, jewellery, nuts, chemicals, wines, engines & turbines, and ships & boats.
SA in turn is the largest Sub-Saharan African importer of goods from the US; and the biggest source of foreign direct investment to the US from the African continent and a crucial supplier of raw materials to many US supply-chains.
