US legislators urge the White House to penalize South Africa

Because of its ties to Russia, a bipartisan group is urging Pretoria to be barred from hosting a US-Africa trade forum.

In light of Pretoria’s “deepening” ties with Moscow, four US lawmakers are pleading with the White House to change the location of the US-Africa trade summit, saying they are “seriously concerned” that South Africa will host it later this year.

The letter, which was written by a group of lawmakers from both parties, was sent to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and two other top officials. It was released by The New York Times on Monday.

The lawmakers wrote in their letter dated June 9 that they were “seriously concerned” that having the 2023 AGOA Forum in South Africa would be seen as an implicit support for that country’s detrimental backing of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a potential infraction of US sanctions law.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum, a leading American trade initiative, will take place in Pretoria before moving to Johannesburg. African leaders and US government representatives will meet at the event to talk about the program’s future, which is scheduled to end in 2025.

The letter mentions that South Africa “held joint military exercises with Russia and China, and in April, authorized a Russian military cargo plane, also subject to US sanctions, to land at a South African air force base.”

Under the AGOA initiative, sub-Saharan African nations that qualify can access the US market duty-free for more than 1,800 products. The alleged biggest beneficiary, South Africa, exported goods worth about $3 billion to the US via AGOA last year.

The lawmakers from both parties agreed that Pretoria’s alleged “covert” supply of ammunition to Moscow for the Ukraine conflict, among other actions, “call into question its eligibility for trade benefits under AGOA.”

They also expressed displeasure about the upcoming BRICS summit, which will take place in Johannesburg this summer, and accused the South African government of facilitating the attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin despite an active arrest warrant being issued by the International Criminal Court for Russia’s head of state.

The State Department and the White House have not decided to move the AGOA forum outside of South Africa, according to Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for the South African foreign ministry.

He continued by saying that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s special envoys visited the US to inform influential parties of South Africa’s non-aligned position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, while the nation’s diplomats in Washington continue to take part in these discussions.

In hosting the AGOA Forum, which is scheduled for November, South Africa has the backing of the US government, the Africa Group, and business. Even in light of AGOA, Monyela stated in a tweet on Tuesday that South Africa and the United States of America have positive relations.