> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.businessbagel.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# The US has extended its trade deal for Africa to 2028, but South Africa still has to make the list
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/froneman-us-remarks-agoa-export-jobs/
- Published: 2026-10-13T03:45:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-13T03:44:59.000Z
- Description: AGOA now runs to 2028, but Washington is reviewing who qualifies for 2027. Solidarity's research arm puts 576,000 jobs behind US exports, and the worry has already set Neal Froneman against the Presidency.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Policy, Business Bagel News

South Africa's quarrel with Washington has produced plenty of headlines this year, over land reform and foreign policy. For the businesses that sell into America, though, the part that matters most is a trade programme called AGOA, and a list the US is drawing up right now.

## What AGOA does, and why the list matters

AGOA, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, lets qualifying sub-Saharan African countries sell thousands of products into the US on better terms than usual, chiefly lower import duties. The programme itself is safe for now: President Donald Trump signed a law in September extending it to December 2028.

Being covered by it is a separate question, settled every year. The US Trade Representative has opened its annual review of which countries qualify for 2027, BusinessTech reports that the list can still change before January, and the trade union Solidarity has warned that South Africa's place on it is not guaranteed.

## What is riding on it

Solidarity's research institute estimates that exports to the US support about 576,000 South African jobs, and that around half of them are in industries that benefit directly from AGOA, among them fruit, mining, cars, chemicals and steel. Lose the better terms and those products cost American buyers more, which is how a trade decision in Washington becomes pressure on jobs here. "For many of these exports, there is no other market that can replace the US market," Solidarity's Du Buisson said.

Carmakers have already had a taste of it. After a general US tariff came in last year, South Africa sent 6,500 vehicles to the US in 2025, down from 25,500 the year before, Daily Investor reports.

Solidarity is not a neutral counter, though. It has spent four years pressing the US government on AGOA, and wants Pretoria to protect the relationship.

## The row at the partnership table

The worry has also opened a rift between business and government. Neal Froneman, who ran Sibanye-Stillwater for 12 years and now helps lead business's anti-crime work inside its partnership with government, argued in a BizNews interview that the US should spare business. "The private sector and the majority of South Africans are not the problem, and therefore, don't punish business in South Africa," he said, suggesting the US target the individuals driving the policies instead.

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Business Day the approach was "unpatriotic and destructive", and said he would expect Froneman to withdraw from the partnership, whose third phase aims for a million new jobs by 2030\. On Monday Froneman told Business Day that his reference to targeting individuals "could, without the broader context, have created an unintended impression". He did not withdraw the call, or say whether he will leave.

The government says its differences with Washington belong in diplomatic talks. Whoever is sitting at the partnership table, the AGOA list will be settled in Washington.