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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRepairing the relationship with the United States<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Repairing the fractured relationship between South Africa and the US hinges on balanced trade, according to business and labour leaders from the continent\u2019s biggest economy who met with American politicians in Washington. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That would mean narrowing South Africa\u2019s trade surplus with the US of more than $4 billion, mainly from its exports of cars and agricultural products, said Johann Kotze, chief executive officer of the country\u2019s biggest farm lobby. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inclusion in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)\u2014 which allows duty-free access for many goods into the world\u2019s largest market \u2014 may end, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere was a sense that it\u2019s freebie and there\u2019s not something back for America,\u201d Kotze, the head of AgriSA, said of the perception of Agoa by US senators and members of Congress that the group met. \u201cReciprocal trade is for America a big thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kotze declined to identify which US politicians the group met, other than to say they were from both the Republican and Democratic parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A political spat has complicated South Africa\u2019s $23 billion trade relationship with the US, its biggest commercial partner after China. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump has accused South Africa of seizing privately owned land from Whites, even though the government hasn\u2019t confiscated any since apartheid ended in 1994. He has offered members of the Afrikaner ethnic minority refugee status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US leader also cancelled aid to South Africa, crippling programs key to the fight against HIV\/AIDS and expelled its ambassador to Washington after he described Trump and his supporters as a \u201csupremacist\u201d movement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe wanted to go to the US for a temperature check to see what the points of irritation are\u201d and whether there is a chance of a reset, said Matthew Parks, the parliamentary coordinator for the Congress of South African Trade Unions and a member of the group that travelled to the US. \u201cWe need to address the political turbulence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group intends to brief the government about the talks, Parks said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other members of the group included Neal Froneman, the chief executive officer of precious-metals miner Sibanye Stillwater Ltd., and Adrian Enthoven, the chairman of Hollard Insurance Ltd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US could either extend, change or scrap the AGOA agreement \u2014 which benefits many African countries \u2014 when it expires in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe top administration is very protective regarding its own economy,\u201d Kotze said of the US. \u201cTrade is a big tool for them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa could possibly address US trade concerns by encouraging purchases of more American agricultural technology and equipment, he said. It could also enable more US access to its critical minerals, he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n