Republican lawmaker John Kennedy has suggested that Pretoria should be removed from a flagship trade initiative<\/p>\n
Republican Senator John Kennedy has labeled South Africa an enemy of the US, as lawmakers increasingly push for Pretoria\u2019s removal from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Washington\u2019s flagship trade initiative.
\nUS Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer was questioned by Republican Senator John Kennedy at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing regarding South Africa\u2019s inclusion in the potential extension of AGOA.\u00a0
\nKennedy asked Greer: \u201cWhat do you want to do about South Africa as part of AGOA, given that South Africa is not America\u2019s friend?\u201d
\nGreer responded: \u201cThat\u2019s correct. We have had some conversations with South Africans when it comes to trade, and there are a lot of kind of foreign policy issues that I do not get into with South Africa. But when it comes to trade, they have a lot of barriers \u2026
\n\u201dWe have made it clear to the South Africans that if they want to have a better tariff situation with us they need to take care of these tariff and non-tariff barriers.
\n\u201cThey are a real economy, they are a big economy, right. They have an industrial base, they have an agricultural base; they should be buying things from the United States,\u201d said Greer.<\/p>\n
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US official brands South Africa \u2018a unique problem\u2019<\/p>\n
Kennedy then put it to Greer that if AGOA is extended for one year, without reforming it, South Africa would benefit from the initiative. Greer conceded, but highlighted that already, South Africa has been slapped with a 30 percent \u201creciprocal tariff which is much higher than the rest of the continent.\u201d\u00a0He however, noted that South Africa is a unique case.
\nKennedy went on: \u201cDon\u2019t you think we have to separate South Africa and AGOA?\u201d\u00a0Greer agreed, saying that he would be happy to consider that proposal.
\n\u201dCongress has come to me and said we want AGOA. And if we are going to give away, we need to figure out how to improve it. If you think that we should give South Africa a different treatment, I am open to that, because I think they are a unique problem.\u201d
\nKennedy responded: \u201cWell,\u00a0they are a unique problem for America. I mean, they are our enemy right now. They are buddies with all of our enemies. And they have been very critical of the United States.\u201d
\nGreer agreed: \u201cThat is exactly right. And that is why they are actually treated in a much different way. Most of the African continent, sub-Saharan Africa, has just 10%, and South Africa has 30%.\u201d
\nEarlier this year, the United States imposed a 30 percent tariff on imports from South Africa after US officials failed to respond to several trade proposals submitted by Pretoria.
\nIn July, IOL reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa had noted the correspondence from United States President Donald Trump on\u00a0the unilateral imposition of a 30% trade tariff against South Africa.\u00a0Ramaphosa also noted that South Africa is one of a number of countries which have received similar communication announcing tariffs at the time.<\/p>\n
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The US has just declared economic war on Africa. It will backfire<\/p>\n
\u201dThis 30% tariff is based on a particular interpretation of the balance of trade between South Africa and the United States. This contested interpretation forms part of the issues under consideration by the negotiating teams from South Africa and the United States,\u201d said Ramaphosa\u2019s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya.
\n\u201cAccordingly, South Africa maintains that the 30% reciprocal tariff is not an accurate representation of available trade data. In our interpretation of the available trade data, the average tariff on imported goods entering South Africa stands at 7.6%.
\n\u201dImportantly, 56% of goods enter South Africa at a 0% most favoured nation tariff, with 77% of US goods entering the South African market under the 0% duty,\u201d he said. However, the presidency in Pretoria made it clear that South Africa continues with efforts to nurture closer trade relations with the United States.
\nFirst published by IOL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Republican lawmaker John Kennedy has suggested that Pretoria should be removed from a flagship trade initiative Republican Senator John Kennedy has labeled South Africa an enemy of the US, as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t