South Africa is lobbying for a 15-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, arguing that short-term renewals erode investor confidence and disrupt regional industrial planning. Pretoria also wants the scheme’s eligibility criteria revised to account for inequality levels rather than income thresholds alone. The trade agreement, which grants duty-free access to the US market, briefly lapsed in September before Washington approved a temporary extension through the end of the year. Pretoria made its case in a submission to the Office of the US Trade Representative, highlighting its role as a source of critical minerals and its capacity to process them for American manufacturing. South Africa possesses 12 of the 50 minerals identified by the US as strategically important, including platinum group metals, manganese, and chromium.
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