Trump moves to remove South Africa and Rwanda from US duty-free trade program

President Donald Trump has told Congress he intends to take South Africa and Rwanda out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, known as Agoa, starting Jan. 1, 2027. Agoa gives eligible African countries duty-free access to the US market for thousands of products. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said a yearly review found both countries engaged in practices "inconsistent with" the program's eligibility requirements.

The administration cited barriers to US trade and investment, plus national security and foreign policy interests in the region. For Rwanda, it also named human rights and political pluralism, and then the rule of law and workers' rights. For South Africa, it also pointed to corruption.

Barely a week earlier, the US Treasury had sanctioned Rwanda's defence ministry over accusations that it backed the M23 armed rebellion in eastern DR Congo. Treasury said the ministry sent thousands of troops to fight with the rebels and supplied weapons, equipment, logistics and training. Relations between the US and South Africa were already strained.

Trump had accused South Africa of white genocide during an earlier White House meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, and he opened a refugee pathway for Afrikaners. US Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell III wrote on X that the result was a "predictable and preventable outcome."