South Africa Awaits US Trade-Pact Vote With Impact Seen Modest

South Africa risks losing preferential access to the US market under a key African trade pact that’s before Congress, though the economic impact would likely be limited even if the country is excluded.

The Senate may vote as early as this week on renewing the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a program that has been key to boosting relations between sub-Saharan Africa and the US since its inception in 2000. The legislation, which expired on Sept. 30, has enabled more than 1,800 products from 32 nations to enter the US duty-free and can only be renewed by an act of Congress, most recently in 2015.