South Africa Gears Up for New Trade Tack With Trump

The loss of preferential U.S. trade will cost South Africa billions of dollars and leave key economic sectors in trouble.

Some of the thousands of platinum mineworkers report for work at Lonmin, an Anglo American Platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa, on June 25, 2014, following the resolution of a five-month strike in the sector. Denis Farrell/AP Photo

JOHANNESBURG—The South African government is convinced that U.S. President Donald Trump will soon make sure that Pretoria loses trade benefits worth at least $4 billion annually under Washington’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Instead, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa plans to take advantage of the U.S. leader’s “transactional” inclinations to negotiate a reciprocal trade deal that could involve access to South Africa’s vast natural resources, senior officials in Pretoria told The Epoch Times.