DA party seek to influence US lawmakers to think about their decision to preserve the country’s duty-free access to the world’s biggest economy amid the disagreement between South Africa and the United States over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
DA leader, John Steenhuisen said, three weeks ago he met with senate staff and congressional in Washington to nudge them to continue working with South Africa and the country is benefiting from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
South Africa, which is governed by the ANC, has angered the US by working with Russia and condemning their aggression and hosting its warship for naval exercises. The US ambassador made an accusation that Pretoria load arms onto a Russian ship and said this could affect its access to the US market. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration denied the allegation.
US officials previously said the qualifying criteria for AGOA beneficiaries could be revised or the program replaced as it expires in 2025. South Africa ships cars and agricultural produce to the US under the accord. Last year, it exported $2.7 billion of goods using AGOA and the so-called Generalized System of Preferences.
“This thing is in deep, deep trouble and so we need to do something quickly,” Steenhuisen said in an interview in Bloomberg’s Johannesburg office on Monday. “We seem to have left things very, very late and we seem determined to continue poking sticks into the eyes of our largest trading partners.”
Losing the program could negatively affect South African regions controlled by the DA.
According to News24 reports, Tshwane, the municipal area that includes the capital, is a car-making hub that’s run by the party, with Nissan Motor Co., BMW AG and Iveco Group NV operating factories there.
The US became the largest export market for the Western Cape, the only province controlled by the opposition, in 2021 with citrus fruit, wine, steel and jewellery shipped to the US, according to Wesgro, a provincial tourism and trade promotion agency. That year, goods worth R17 billion were exported to the US, while American companies invested R4.4 billion in the province.
“Our key message to them was don’t punish the good guys while you’re trying to punish the bad guys,” Steenhuisen said.
US ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety after returning from the US with a South African delegation told local media on May 11th that arms have been loaded onto a Russian cargo ship at South African naval base in Simon’s Town.
Enoch Godongwana, South African Minister said South Africa is likely to face any repercussions as matters have been resolved.
Steenhuisen said, “It doesn’t make sense pragmatically or economically for South Africa to be putting all that at risk by adopting the position it’s taken on the Russia issue, we’ve got a lot to lose.”
