US to suspend South Africa and Rwanda from AGOA duty-free trade

The United States will suspend South Africa and Rwanda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the duty-free trade programme known as AGOA, according to Reuters, the Associated Press and DW.

Reuters reported that Washington would suspend the two countries from duty-free trade access. The Associated Press said the Trump administration would cut South Africa and Rwanda from the AGOA programme. DW said the US would drop them from the duty-free trade initiative.

The three accounts named the same two countries and described the same step. None gave a date for the suspension to take effect, listed the goods it would cover, or set out the reason the administration gave for the decision.

The Japan Times reported that AGOA gives duty-free access to the world's largest economy for more than 1,800 products and has boosted trade between the United States and the region. Its headline said the two countries lose access to the pact, without saying when that takes effect.

Goods from the two countries that enter the US duty-free under AGOA would lose that treatment once a suspension applies. The reports did not say whether orders already placed or contracts already signed would be affected.

South Africa and Rwanda are the only countries the reports named as being removed. They did not say whether other countries benefiting from AGOA would follow.

Reuters filed its report on 2 November. The Japan Times carried the story the following day.

AGOA is a US trade preference programme for African countries. The figure of more than 1,800 products, given by The Japan Times, is the only detail in the reports on what it covers.