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USTR Greer Open To Excluding South Africa From AGOA Renewal, Seeks Lower Tariffs

Reuters|Reuters
06:49 AM, 12/10/2025
USTR Greer Open To Excluding South Africa From AGOA Renewal, Seeks Lower Tariffs
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer speaks to the media while attending a working lunch with EU ministers responsible for trade, in Brussels, Belgium, November 24, 2025. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw/File Photo

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he is open to treating South Africa differently from other African nations if the United States renews the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which expired in September. He told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee the administration supports a one-year extension but views South Africa as an exceptional case that could be excluded. Greer urged South Africa to cut tariffs and remove non-tariff barriers if it wants the U.S. to consider lowering about 30% duties on some South African imports.

WASHINGTON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday he would consider treating South Africa differently from other African nations if Washington moves to renew a sub-Saharan African trade initiative that expired in September.

Testifying before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee, Greer said the Trump administration would support a one-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), but described South Africa as a special case that could be excluded from the program if Congress pushed for that outcome.

"If you think that we should give South Africa different treatment, I'm open to that," Greer told the panel, adding that South Africa needs to lower tariffs on U.S. products and remove non-tariff barriers on American goods if it expects the United States to reduce its roughly 30% duties on South African imports.

Greer linked continued preferential access under AGOA to reciprocal market access steps by Pretoria. He emphasized that tariff reductions and the elimination of non-tariff barriers would be key conditions for the U.S. to consider cutting duties on South African goods.

AGOA, which provides duty-free access for many sub-Saharan African products to the U.S. market, expired in September; the administration is proposing a short, one-year extension while discussions continue. Any decision to treat South Africa differently would hinge on congressional action and bilateral negotiations on trade barriers.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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