The AGOA Agreement was set up in 2020 allowing certain African countries to benefit by having no duties on certain exports into the US and other exports at a cheaper rate. T
September was meant to be the renewal date for the African Growth And Opportunity Act which is a duty free trade agreement Sub Saharan Africa had in place with the USA. With the new tard tariffs hitting this week people are wondering if this AGOA deal will be scrapped and only a complete fool would think this agreement may be renewed.
I am in he camp of the US in what they are doing a they are addressing what is wrong in this world head on and it is refreshing to see the wrongs of the past being corrected and made right. This will eventually see all the trade parties come to the negotiation table and an amicable agreement can be reached benefitting all parties and not just one. Under current trade deals the US is being marginalised and his has created a huge imbalance.
This is not a new idea and when one looks back at previous US governments this idea of tariffs has been touted, but never acted on. This will wake countries up and they will have to change and adapt quickly or they are going to suffer the consequences.
South Africa having a duty free option for trading with the US whilst tariffing US imports was a deal made of milk and honey and would never last. No one in their right mind would see this as fair for both sides and it rightly has been stopped. many companies et up businesses here to take advantage of that agreement and the chances are they will have to move to another country that has cheaper tariffs if no new deal can be brokered. The major businesses spinning and impacted by the new tariffs in the auto sector are Mercedes and BMW who now have to find a away of exportin whilst remaining competitive.
You Think Trumps Tariffs Are Bad Wait For CBAM January 2026
The next big stumbling block and this I believe is even bigger than the new tariffs imposed by the US is the CBAM tax starting January 2026. Every country trading with the EU exporting or importing is due for an extra tax paying for carbon emissions and at least his new tariff set up by the US is addressing trade imbalances before that happens. CBAM is directly going to impact the consumer far more as all costs will rise and be included in the selling price.
The good news is the SA Government this week changed 140 old import concessions that were 20 and 30 years old and should have been scrapped ages ago. The likes of Temu and Shein have been flooding the SA market with cheap Chinese goods using the no import duties as a way of stealing business away from local retailers and manufacturers.
The rule was if the item was below R500 it had no duty, but the crazy part is if that same company exported $1 million of those items at R500 each there was still no duty. The loop hole was they would invoice these items out individually and not as a bulk order. This gave the an unfair business advantage compared to local retailers who would be paying duties, vat and everything else associated of being a registered business in SA.
One example I can share with you is replacement trampoline mats because we make them locally. Temu was our closest competitor price wise and now with the loop holes out the way we will see this business side grow and flourish. This may account for an extra 5-10 full time jobs and this is just one item so how many jobs were lost by not acting on these out dated import concessions earlier.