Alpha Ramushwana

IF SOUTH AFRICA WERE EXCLUDED FROM AGOA, the country would face an additional Most Favoured Nation tariff of around 3.4% on top of the existing tariffs the current U.S. Administration added to various countries. Currently, some South African products enter the U.S. market at 12.5% tariffs (Liberation Day tariff). Without AGOA, these tariffs would rise to 15.9%, slightly reducing the competitiveness of South African agricultural products in the U.S. market. Still, one could argue that while this would be a challenging path, IT WOULD NOT NECESSARILY BE AS CATASTROPHIC as we have faced in the past, when it faced much higher U.S. tariffs and still managed to compete. For example, in 2025, those of us in the South African farming sector faced tariffs of around 30%. Still, exports to the U.S. were strong. South Africa’s agricultural exports to the U.S. in 2025 totalled US$504 million, down 3% from the previous year.