Economic, Diplomatic Ramifications of SA’s Potential Exclusion from AGOA

American senator John Kennedy has introduced a bill to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for another two years, but with one major provision: South Africa will be excluded. This proposal – known as the AGOA Extension and Bilateral Engagement Act – signals a profound shift in the geopolitical context of US-Africa relations, and its implications for South Africa would be both economic and diplomatic.