According to Tau, South Africa has 60 days to address the concerns raised by the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Government recognises the concern that this decision may create for workers, exporters, businesses and communities linked to AGOA-supported value chains,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The impact will differ across sectors, and government is working closely with affected industries to assess the implications and will continue to provide appropriate support, on a company-to-company basis.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While acknowledging the impact, Tau also moved to downplay the overall effect on South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that in 2025, approximately 89% of South African exports to the United States entered under ordinary World Trade Organisation most-favoured-nation terms, while approximately 10% entered under AGOA, down from 28% in 2024. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n AGOA exports were valued at approximately US$1.7 billion in 2025, down from US$4 billion in 2024, he said, representing only about 1% of South Africa\u2019s total global exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He stressed that trade with the United States will continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Bilateral trade reached US$28.8 billion in 2025, while more than 600 American companies operate in South Africa, supporting approximately 134,600 jobs,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These trade relations are complementary and mutually beneficial, he added, noting that South Africa supplies 12 of the 50 minerals the United States considers critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, he flagged that the loss of AGOA will undermine South Africa’s investments in the United States and negatively affect existing value chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahead of the AGOA announcement, Tau said the government was making contingency plans regardless of the outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As part of these plans, he said the government will accelerate the diversification of South Africa\u2019s export markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This will see South Africa pursuing export opportunities across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “New market opportunities have also been secured for South African citrus, avocados, grapes and apples,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this has been a plan for South Africa since the United States first imposed punitive tariffs on the country, economists have warned that it is not a simple solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bureau for Economic Research (BER) noted that diversifying export markets is sensible, “but it is neither an immediate solution nor a reason to abandon established trading relationships”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, South Africa exports very different products to different destinations. Because of this, broader export markets may not help the specific industries hit by the loss of AGOA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Even if increased coal exports to India, for example, more than offset the loss of agricultural exports to the US in value terms, that would offer little immediate relief to a seasonal worker on a citrus farm in the “Aggregate export gains do not necessarily compensate for losses in employment and income in the affected sectors and regions.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n South Africa also cannot simply open new markets and suddenly create the same demand for its products, the BER said. All of this takes time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tau said that the government will support the affected sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It will also “protect South Africa\u2019s national interests and continue pursuing trade, investment and shared economic opportunities with the United States,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the country will not back down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “As a sovereign constitutional democracy, South Africa will continue to uphold its constitutional responsibilities, transformation objectives and international obligations,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau says losing AGOA does not mean the end of trade with the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":866776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2117538782509436960","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2259199698233762","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18132856681835349","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-882512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882536,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882512\/revisions\/882536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Plan B in effect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Jamison-Greer.jpg\")
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Western Cape,” the BER said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n