US to remove South Africa and Rwanda from AGOA duty-free trade from 1 January 2027

The notice to Congress

US President Donald Trump has told Congress he intends to remove South Africa and Rwanda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), with the change due to take effect on 1 January 2027. US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced the decision in a statement on Monday, 2 November, and the two governments were notified too. AGOA allows eligible African countries to export thousands of products to the United States without duties. About 30 of the continent's roughly 50 countries benefit from it in theory, and Congress renewed the programme in September. Greer said the annual review of the deal, carried out in the weeks before the announcement, found that both governments had engaged in practices that fail the eligibility requirements.

“The Trump administration is working to ensure our African partners take the necessary steps to meet the eligibility criteria.”

Washington's case against South Africa

The administration says South African policies create barriers to US trade and investment, point to corruption and threaten US national security and foreign policy interests, although the statement gave no further detail. South Africa is among the programme's largest beneficiaries, and Washington has also cast the country as persecuting Afrikaners, the descendants of white European settlers. The New York Times noted that Trump and his officials have repeatedly criticised South Africa's affirmative action laws, which were meant to address inequalities left by apartheid. Trump argues those laws discriminate against the white minority, and he has also attacked a law requiring companies to have partial Black ownership, which he says blocks American investment. Last year Trump accused South Africa of white genocide during a White House meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa, and his administration launched a US refugee pathway for Afrikaners.

Rwanda and the M23 dispute

The case against Rwanda rests on different grounds. Washington cites the rule of law, political pluralism, workers' rights and respect for human rights, as well as tariff and investment barriers. The move follows a US Treasury decision, taken about a week before the announcement, to sanction Rwanda's defence ministry for its alleged role in the armed rebellion in eastern DR Congo. Treasury said the ministry directed thousands of troops to fight alongside M23 rebels and provided them with weapons, equipment, logistics and training. Washington also accuses Kigali of continuing to back the M23 group and of profiting from the chaos in eastern Congo, and relations between the two capitals have become strained.

Reactions and next steps

Bloomberg reported that South Africa and Rwanda had lost their eligibility, and that Pretoria had lobbied hard to keep its access to the programme. The formal removal is set for 1 January 2027, and it threatens preferential trade arrangements that both countries rely on. US Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell III said it was regrettable that South African policies led to the termination. He wrote on X:

“This was a predictable and preventable outcome resulting from the rejection by South Africa's government of real concerns raised by the US.”

Relations between Washington and both capitals remain tense, and the access that the removal would end runs until 1 January 2027.