US bullying South Africa for being neutral

South Africa is now increasingly coming under growing pressure from the United States, which is its second largest trading partner after China, for seemingly supporting Russia in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, although it says it is neutral.

Washington and Pretoria recently faced-off in a diplomatic tiff after the US accused SA of supplying arms to Russia.

Even if Pretoria denied the claims, the US remains suspicious, saying SA is cosy with the Kremlin. The US cites joint military exercises it did with Russia and China of late. Recently the SA military cemented ties with Russia through a high profile visit to Moscow.

As a result, US lawmakers are now saying the upcoming African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) 2023 forum must not be held in SA.

Further US legislators are asking whether SA should continue to benefit under Agoa under the current circumstances.

Agoa provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the US market for over 1 800 products, in addition to the more than 5 000 products that are eligible for duty-free access under the Generalised System of Preferences programme.

Zimbabwe is not part of Agoa after the US slapped it with targeted sanctions since 2002 over policy clashes, particularly the chaotic land reform programme, elections theft and human rights abuses.

Since Agoa came into force in 2001, Zimbabwe has never been eligible for the preferential market access under the legislation, which has been extended to 2025.