Obama sets March deadline for Agoa

His remarks released by the South African Broadcasting Corporation comes after the White House on Monday issued a presidential proclamation saying South Africa’s trade benefits on farm produce would be suspended if US poultry is not allowed into South Africa by March 15.

South Africa said last week it was close to striking a deal over farm produce trade with Washington that would see it retain the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a USA trade agreement created to help African exporters.

The U.S presidency is putting pressure on South Africa to lower its health standards which is one of the main concerns prolonging the deal.

“Suspending the application of duty-free treatment to certain goods would be more effective in promoting compliance by South Africa with such requirements than terminating the designation of South Africa as a beneficiary”, the US said in the proclamation.

“We do not want food poisoning in South Africa”, he said.

But now the US government says it is testing the system to make sure the meat will be available on store shelves in South Africa. South Africa also agreed to a policy of regionalisation in the event of future detections of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the US.

In the first three quarters of 2015 it exported $154 million worth of agricultural goods to the USA under AGOA – about 14 percent of shipments, according to data from the Stellenbosch-based Trade Law Centre, Bloomberg reported.

The March 15 deadline is the second placed on South Africa by the U.S.

The South African Poultry Association said orders for USA poultry imports have already been placed and are expected to arrive in South Africa within the next month, EyewitnessNews reports.

“Although success will ultimately be realised when U.S. chicken is imported into South Africa, this announcement is a positive step to bringing increased economic benefits to USA chicken farmers and companies across the country”, Sumner and Brown continued. In November past year, Obama set December 31 as the deadline for South Africa to conclude negotiations over the issue or face the risk of losing its preferential treatment.