The United States announced Monday that it intends to suspend South Africa and Rwanda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, cutting off their duty-free access to the American market effective January 1, 2027. The move marks a sharp escalation in already strained relations between Washington and Pretoria, and comes as the Trump administration presses both countries over a list of trade, security and governance concerns.
According to CNBC Africa, the United States said on Monday that it intends to suspend both countries from duty-free access under the trade program. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said an annual review had found that both countries were engaging in practices inconsistent with AGOA's eligibility requirements, as reported by BBC. Greer cited barriers to U.S. trade and investment, along with concerns over national security and foreign policy interests in the region, the outlet noted.
The reasons given differ by country. For Rwanda, the U.S. additionally pointed to concerns involving human rights, political pluralism, rule of law and workers' rights, while for South Africa, the administration pointed to corruption, according to the BBC report. The Associated Press, via WFMZ, reported that Greer said President Trump had informed Congress and the South African and Rwandan governments directly about the removal starting January 1, 2027.
A Deepening Rift With Pretoria
The AP account, bylined by Michelle Gumede and Gerald Imray, lays out a string of grievances the Trump administration has raised against South Africa's government during Trump's second term. Officials have accused South Africa's Black-led government of being anti-white over its domestic affirmative action policies and have pressed Pretoria to drop affirmative action requirements for U.S. businesses operating there, to make crimes against farmers a priority offense, and to repeal a land law that allows private land expropriation without compensation in some circumstances, per the same report. The administration has also accused South Africa of allowing widespread violence against minority white farmers, a claim the AP describes as baseless, and of being anti-American for criticizing Israel and maintaining diplomatic ties with Iran.
South Africa's government has denied being anti-white and said the U.S. criticism stems from misinformation, according to the wire report. South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said last month that South Africa was preparing for the worst-case scenario on AGOA but would not surrender its sovereignty to U.S. demands, the AP noted. Separately, South Africa's government said last week it was prepared for a negative outcome from the AGOA eligibility review and that it remained open to dialogue with Washington, according to Al Jazeera.
Tensions had already been building before Monday's announcement. South Africa was excluded last month from a group of 20 foreign ministers meeting in Atlanta, and South African officials said in October that they expected the country to be removed from AGOA, the AP reported. As of the announcement, neither the South African nor Rwandan government had immediately responded to the planned removal, according to the wire service.
Rwanda's Separate Set of Pressures
Rwanda's case has unfolded alongside a separate dispute. The United States sanctioned Rwanda's defense ministry last month over its support for the M23 rebel group fighting government forces in eastern Congo, the AP reported. Rwanda also has history with AGOA: the U.S. suspended its right to export clothing duty-free back in 2018 over Kigali's decision to raise tariffs on imported used clothing and footwear, according to CNBC Africa.
What's At Stake Economically
AGOA, introduced by President Bill Clinton in 2000, gives eligible African nations duty-free U.S. market access for thousands of products and is reviewed annually, with more than 30 African countries currently holding membership, per the AP. South Africa is Africa's biggest economy and has been the program's largest beneficiary, though the exact scale of what's at risk is described differently across sources. CNBC Africa reported that South Africa exported goods worth about $1.7 billion under AGOA in 2025, while bne IntelliNews reported U.S. duty-free imports under the program at $1.6 billion that year, describing it as a measure of U.S. imports rather than South African exports.
Despite those figures, AGOA exports made up only about 1% of South Africa's total global exports in 2025, according to the country's trade ministry, and almost 90% of South Africa's exports to the U.S. did not benefit from AGOA at all, per CNBC Africa's reporting. Even so, research estimates cited by Moneyweb put potential job losses at around 3,000 in agriculture and manufacturing and close to 10,000 overall if South Africa is excluded from the program. Moneyweb also noted that South African exports will still reach the U.S. market after the suspension, just under the standard U.S. tariff regime rather than duty-free terms. For Rwanda, U.S. goods imports totaled $43.3 million in 2025, up 43.3% from the prior year, though CNBC Africa reported that official sources did not specify how much of that entered under AGOA preferences.
Precedent for Reinstatement
AGOA membership losses are not unprecedented, and the program does allow countries to be reinstated, according to the AP. The Biden administration removed Uganda from AGOA over a strict anti-gay law, and separately removed Burkina Faso, Gabon and Niger following coups that overthrew their governments. The U.S. last removed AGOA beneficiaries in January 2024, when Gabon, Niger, the Central African Republic and Uganda lost eligibility, according to bne IntelliNews. CNBC Africa reported that Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and the Central African Republic are among other countries that have previously lost eligibility, mainly over human rights and rule-of-law issues.
Greer said the administration is working to ensure African partners take the necessary steps to meet the program's eligibility criteria, the AP reported, though the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not give specific examples of the trade barriers or security and foreign policy issues it cited in this case. U.S. Ambassador to South Africa L. Brent Bozell III, in a post on X cited by the AP, said the suspension resulted from South Africa's failure to enact the policy changes the U.S. had requested, calling it a predictable and preventable outcome stemming from Pretoria's rejection of what he described as real U.S. concerns.
