South Africa is anxious about a new deal with the US

South Africa is apprehensive about striking a new trade deal with the US and would rather maintain existing relations with the world’s largest economy, the nation’s top trade official said.

South Africa is currently party to the so-called Generalized System of Preferences and the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, which together allow most sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the American market for almost 7,000 products.

AGOA is due to expire in 2025, while Richard Neal, the chairman of the House of Representatives’ Ways & Means Committee, has called for the GSP – the US’s oldest and largest trade-preference program for the world’s poorest economies – to be updated.

“We are hoping we can keep the current unilateral agreement in place,” Lionel October, the director-general of South Africa’s Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, said in an interview last week.

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