Ramaphosa tells South Africans to prepare for possible loss of US AGOA trade benefits
President Cyril Ramaphosa has told South Africans to prepare for the possibility that the country is removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the US programme that gives eligible sub-Saharan African countries preferential access to the US market. He said the impact would be "devastating," but warned against panic.
What Ramaphosa said
He spoke on Monday in response to a question from an AFP journalist at a briefing.
Congress has decided that we should be kept in AGOA. What now remains is the executive.
Framing it as a possibility, he said: "So that I prepare our people for this, if we ever have a choice, we are not the first and only country to be taken out of AGOA. And I believe we will not be the last."
He added: "I need as president to prepare us if it ever happens. So we should not go out and jump off tall buildings and think that this is the end of the world."
The deadline
The US president reviews AGOA eligibility every year. Any removal needs 60 days' notice to Congress and the country concerned.
There is a precedent. On 30 October 2023, then-president Joe Biden declared the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger and Uganda ineligible from 1 January 2024.
What is at stake
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Car exports | Duty-free into the US under AGOA |
| Rank | Cars are SA's second-biggest US export earner, after precious metals (SARS) |
| Direct jobs | 86,000 at car makers (Naamsa, 2025) |
| Including suppliers | 125,000 (Naamsa, 2025) |
Why ties are strained
AFP said relations have soured since Trump took office. Washington has cut aid, expelled South Africa's ambassador and confronted Ramaphosa in the Oval Office over discredited "white genocide" claims.
