JOHANNESBURG – Key Republicans are already pressing the incoming Trump administration to kick South Africa out of lucrative trade arrangements, if the South African government does not change its position on Russia, China, Iran and Israel.
Most at risk are South Africa’s duty-free exports of goods such as cars and citrus fruits to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, with the potential loss of tens of thousands of African jobs. South Africa is likely to come under intense scrutiny from the next administration.
Posted by Center for African Studies at Howard UniversityHe warned, in 2023, that a country that wants the preferential trade agreements mandated by AGOA “cannot act in a way that undermines U.S. national security or foreign policy interests.”
South Africa is joining Russian military aircraft and naval ships in the exercises, allowing naval bases in Pretoria to be used by the Kremlin and sanctioned Russian warships. Senior South African military officials received training in Moscow. At the United Nations, South Africa refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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President-elect Trump (Peter Kramer/NBC via Getty Images)
The African National Congress, the majority party in South Africa, has met with the terrorist Hamas movement, and recently a branch of the ANC supported a local Muslim leader who shouted to a crowd: “I am Hamas, Cape Town is Hamas, long live Hamas!” The government also issued a statement condemning the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh this year. The country’s Foreign Minister, Ronald Lamola, spoke out against the “assassination” of this designated terrorist leader, saying that “such acts of extrajudicial killing violate international law.”
South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide before the International Court of Justice.
South Africa’s largest trading partner is China, as both countries are founding members of the BRICS trade organization. South Africa has welcomed Iran’s inclusion now in the BRICS group. There were accusations of deep ties between Tehran and Pretoria.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 23, 2024. (Alexander Zemlyanichenko/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Brooks Spector: “Given South Africa’s positions on the conflicts between Russia, Ukraine, and the Middle East, South Africa departs from U.S. positions in several ways, most notably in its aggressive prosecution of Israel and its leaders in international courts.” He told Fox News Digital.
Spector, a former US diplomat now based in Johannesburg and deputy editor of the prestigious Daily Maverick newspaper, added: “Continued action and rhetoric by South Africa in its prosecution of Israel in the international court effort will (and perhaps most likely) embolden Republicans in Congress.” Also in administration) to strip South Africa of benefits under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, assuming the law is renewed next year.
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“Such endeavors by the South African government may also lead to efforts to reduce aid to important efforts such as PEPFAR – the aid program that, along with the Global Fund and local organisations, has been crucial to the country’s successful efforts to combat HIV and “AIDS.”
One of those prominent Republicans, Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox News Digital: “I remain concerned about South Africa’s efforts to cozy up to Russia, China and Iran, including Iran’s terrorist proxies, and the impact of This depends on America’s national security – a vital component of AGOA eligibility – and the country’s foreign policy actions will remain the focus of my oversight efforts.
Naledi Pandor, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, and Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, will meet in Tehran on 22 October 2023. (Haider Sahin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Senator Tim Scott, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, criticized South Africa in 2023, saying: “South Africa has harbored sanctioned Russian ships, expanded its ties with Iran and issued statements.” Against Israel’s right to defend itself in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas.”
Both of these influential Republican leaders are expected to become more powerful when President-elect Trump takes office in January, with Scott’s office staff telling Fox News Digital: “Senator Scott looks forward to working with the Trump administration to ensure that AGOA participants do not participate.” “Undermining our national security interests.”
Now-deceased Hamas leader Khaled Meshal at a rally in his honor on October 21, 2015, in Cape Town. South Africa. (Rodger Bush/AFP via Getty Images)
South Africa’s actions are certainly the focus of intense attention in Washington. From inside the ring road, Richard Goldberg told Fox News Digital that he was particularly concerned about potential links between South Africa and Iran. Goldberg is a former member of the National Security Council and a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “The first step is to build the case publicly, and give South Africa a final moment to choose,” he told Fox. “We must declassify intelligence about South Africa’s deep relationship with Iran, and any other support or partnership with terrorist groups.”
“Then we need to use our full diplomatic and economic weight to force Pretoria to choose between the United States and our terrorist adversaries,” Goldberg continued. “The African Growth and Opportunity Act should be one of several items on the policy menu.”
South Africa’s Department of International Relations did not respond to several requests for comment. But COSATU’s parliamentary coordinator, Matthew Parkes, did. COSATU is the confederation of South African trade unions, historically allied with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s African National Congress. Parks is widely respected for his meaningful and generous pursuit of workers’ rights. Its members stand to lose a lot, including their jobs, if South Africa is taken out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act. But he sounded cautiously optimistic when speaking to Fox News Digital, saying: “We are confident that our relationship with the United States will continue to grow, including through AGOA, simply because it is in the best interest of our people.”
Senator Tim Scott and former President Trump during a Fox News Town Hall on February 20, 2024 in Greenville, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
“We have participated extensively in meetings between South Africa and the United States on how to deepen our relationship and toward renewing the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act,” Parks continued. “We have engaged extensively with our colleagues in the American labor movement, the business community, Congress (both Republicans and Democrats), the State Department, the Department of Labor, the National Security Council and the White House.”
With Trump moving to the White House, Ibrahim Rasool will begin his second term as South Africa’s ambassador to the United States. This month he spoke to Daily Maverick about the challenges South Africa faces with the new administration, referring to South Africa’s attack on Israel in the White House. International Court of Justice. He said: “We will stick to the case, but now let us trust our legal team, trust the evidence we have presented before the ICJ judges, trust the ICJ judges to come up with a sustainable solution, just a solution – but we need to put away the megaphone now.”
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Senator Jim Risch during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing at the US Capitol on April 26, 2022. (Bonnie Cash-Pool/Getty Images)
Rasool noted that South African oranges exported to the United States under AGOA enabled Americans to drink orange juice year-round, when Florida and California oranges were out of season.
Rasoul added: “Why do you want to punish America with expensive cars when BMW cars coming from South Africa will be much cheaper than getting them from Germany or manufacturing your own cars?”
“Similarly, to point out that American cancer patients receive medical nuclear isotopes that come from South Africa.”
Renai Muthilal wrote in Business Day last year that kicking South Africa out of AGOA would be “disastrous.” Muthilal is CEO of the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers, and wrote: “It would not be surprising if some component manufacturers close their doors. US-based multinational manufacturers with factories here may exit the South African country if there are losses in Size”. linked to our exclusion from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or other forms of political pressure are imposed.”
Observers point out that there are loud threats coming from President-elect Trump himself, including the claim that he will impose a 100% import tariff on countries like South Africa if they, as members of the BRICS, adopt a new currency to compete with the dollar. In the other corner of the ring, South African politicians are taking a more conciliatory and conservative tone. The Democratic Alliance or DA is the main opposition party in South Africa. But since May, they have also been members of the national unity government, working in a sometimes tumultuous coalition with President Ramaphosa’s African National Congress.
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The Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov docked in Cape Town port on February 14, 2023, en route to conduct naval exercises with the South African and Chinese navies. (AP Photo/Nardus Engelbrecht)
Emma Powell, the Democratic Party’s foreign affairs spokeswoman, told Fox News Digital that the relationship between Pretoria and Washington is likely to become “increasingly transactional, with greater emphasis on fair reciprocity. This would contrast with the Biden administration’s investment-based approach.” To benefit.” There will also likely be less tolerance for any action by the South African government that may be perceived as undermining U.S. national security interests.
“The Trump administration is also likely to take a more cautious approach to AGOA eligibility,” Powell added.
J. Brooks Spector told Fox News Digital that he could take home one powerful positive: “The next US president’s oft-expressed support for transaction-based foreign economic policies could be an incentive for African countries – urged by South Africa – to work together.” In initiatives and providing commercial and market privileges in Africa to America.”
