Obama’s move would mainly hit South Africa’s lucrative exports of citrus fruits and wine to the US.
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South Africa’s minister of trade and industry, Rob Davies, said Friday the two countries could not agree on chicken, beef and pork safety standards.
The USA government has accused South Africa of being unwilling to play by the rules of the African Growth and Opportunities Act.
The dispute centres over the country’s restrictions on farm imports and has sparked a “poultry war” between local farmers and their USA counterparts.
NPPC said South Africa enforces import restrictions on US pork to prevent diseases for which there are negligible risks of transmission from USA products.
Flaatten says the US Congress has always been arguing that South Africa has matured and should graduate out of the agreement that allows duty-free access to United States markets for more than 7 000 products.
“We take the letter seriously as a warning that if we don’t conclude, this will happen”, Trade Minister Rob Davies told a news conference in Cape Town.
The USA accuses South Africa of blocking US meat products including poultry, beef and pork.
“I am taking this step because South Africa continues to impose several longstanding barriers to US trade, including barriers affecting certain USA agricultural exports”, he said in a letter to Congress.
This was primarily on the initiative of senators from states with large poultry interests chafing against the antidumping duties South Africa imposed on U.S. chicken wings and drumsticks in 2000.
The United States and South Africa reached a deal in June that would eliminate the 100 percent tariff on poultry put into place 15 years ago that has nearly completely blocked U.S chicken exports. “If our privileges under AGOA were to be revoked and we had to pay duties, we would be uncompetitive against Latin American nations such as Chile, Argentina and Peru which enjoy privileges under free trade agreements”.
The suspension can still be reversed and outstanding issues “can be resolved well within the 60 days”, he said. We could lose that market excess, especially in the time that South Africa needs market excess for its products because we are in an economic downturn and we are in dire straits.
Flaatten says any decision on South Africa’s continued participation in Agoa will also affect neighbouring countries, since the economies of the region are intertwined.
It mainly relates to animal health issues, which he said are complex.
Davies said when we get USA poultry imported “we have to ensure it doesn’t cause sickness to our poultry”.
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AgriSA will however keep a close eye on the process and assist wherever it can to remove any remaining stumbling blocks. “We simply need it for our economy”, he said.
