Western Cape moves to woo the US as trade tensions rise

 ·14 Jun 2023

The Western Cape Government (WCG) has prioritised protecting the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) shared between South Africa and the United States as tension and talk of punishing South Africa’s Russian ties reaches a fever point.

AGOA refers to an agreement which provides duty-free treatment to goods from South Africa to the US market.

On 13 June, the New York Times reported that a group of influential congressmen had written to US national security and foreign relations officials calling for South Africa to no longer be the host country for the AGOA conference as well as raising questions regarding South Africa’s position in the Act.

As a result of the possible economic headwinds this could bring to the surface, Western Cape premier Alan Winde is leading a delegation of the WCG to the US intending to further promote trade and investment with the province.

Topping the agenda is to assure the US government that the province remains committed to the AGOA, said the WCG.

“AGOA is very important to us. It is a critical statute that has benefited our province, our country, and our region for over a decade. We are fully aware that there are concerns over whether the US Government will retain and renew our membership come 2025.

“We are demonstrating through a series of meetings in Washington DC that our delegation has held so far that as a province, we value the benefits AGOA has brought to our region and country,” said Winde.

He said that the US foreign relations stakeholders explained that Washington does not want to sever ties with South Africa by not renewing its AGOA eligibility; however, there are growing security matters of interest.

They did, however, note that South Africa’s eligibility to AGOA is an ongoing debate, and challenges are expected to arise.

Winde said that if South Africa was to lose membership to the Act, the Western Cape would suffer greater losses compared to the rest of the country as a result of higher trade tariffs which have been tempered by AGOA.

The delegation further met with members of the US House Committee on Ways and Means and the AGOA Civil Society Network, where it then again reaffirmed the province’s commitment.

Mireille Wenger the minister of finance for the WCG, said, “We, as the provincial government, are working hard to deepen relations with the US. AGOA is critical to achieving this. We have created policy certainty in our province to further the mutual benefits of the act.”

Alexandra Whittaker, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, told the WCG that there is undeniable support for South Africa-US relations, but there are issues that must be debated.


Read: US lawmakers have written a letter calling for South Africa to be punished – here’s what it says

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