South Africa shipped goods worth more than $15 billion to America last year, with $2.7 billion’s worth cleared under the two accords, US government data show. US lawmakers’ concerns that South Africa is taking advantage of its preferential market access while imposing tariffs that render American goods uncompetitive could trigger the change, the people said. Given the benefits South Africa enjoys from its duty-free access to the US, the move struck him as “completely crazy,” he said. America maintains a close relationship with South Africa, said Constance Hamilton, the assistant US trade representative for Africa. South Africa’s market access under the GSP, America’s oldest and largest trade-preference program for the world’s poorest economies, has been under review since 2020.

Source: News 24 December 09, 2022 21:24 UTC