JOHANNESBURG, Jan 13 (Reuters) – South Africa’s government on Tuesday welcomed the approval by the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill that would renew Washington’s preferential trade programme for Africa for another three years.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a law first enacted in 2000 to provide duty-free access to the U.S. market for eligible Sub-Saharan countries and products, expired in September and hundreds of thousands of African jobs are estimated to depend on it.
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South Africa’s trade minister Parks Tau said in a statement that renewing AGOA would “provide certainty and predictability for African and American businesses that rely on the programme”.
He added that Africa’s biggest economy was still negotiating with the U.S. over a bilateral trade deal, even though relations with Washington have soured badly during President Donald Trump’s second term in office.
The bill to extend AGOA will next go to the Senate before going to Trump for his consideration.
Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov;
Writing by Alexander Winning
Editing by Gareth Jones
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