A senior U.S. official said on Tuesday 2 January, that U.S. companies should be treated the same as their European counterparts in South Africa. The American companies are concerned that some of their EU competitor companies were getting a five to 25 percent reduction in duty- a treatment which was denied to them, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Florizelle Liser, said at a press conference in Johannesburg.
This happened when South Africa was enjoying duty free access to the U.S market to sell their products, she said.
There are over 600 U.S. companies operating in South Africa, and this pushed the American government to ask South Africa to comply with certain compliances in relation to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Liser said.
U.S. President Barack Obama gave South Africa until March 15, 2016 to meet certain conditions before being fully accepted back into the AGOA benefits.
Failure to do so would result in South Africa’s exclusion from the act, which would mean SA’s suspension of duty-free treatment to all AGOA-eligible goods in the agricultural sector.
About 65,000 tons of U.S. poultry would be imported into South Africa annually under the AGOA agreement. In return, the U.S. would open its markets to South African fruit, wine, citrus and other agricultural products.
The AGOA was revived by the U.S. Congress and endorsed by Obama, after its first term expired in September 2015. The Act removes some import levies on a range of more than 7,000 products.
