South Africa provided arms to Russia, the US should suspend SA trade agreements

The AP is reporting that the US ambassador Brigety to South Africa said “the U.S. was certain that military equipment was loaded onto the Lady R at the Simon’s Town naval base between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 and then transported to Russia.”

Brigety did this while questioning South Africa’s neutral status in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The US has 3 trade agreements with South Africa worth 358 B

South Africa is eligible for AGOA which gives duty free access to US markets on over 1,800 goods. This means foreign merchants who trade arms to Russia have better tax benefits than US citizens.

The US is considering further free trade through SACU (Southern African Trade Union) and should consider slowing or reversing this with respect to South Africa.

Finally, the US and SA are party to TIFA which sets out terms of trade cooperation – not exporting arms to any country should be added to this list. No one buys South African weapons and ammunition because they have other options available – its only going to go to despots. The US should use its market power to force trade agreements that support democratic countries.

By raising the possibility of eliminating free trade, South Africa would be forced to stop arms trade with Russia

South Africa’s economy is fragile and heavily dependent on exporting of raw materials.

“Overall, gross domestic product in 2020 fell from 388.53 billion US dollars to 337.62 billion US dollars. With a large drop of 13.10 percent, the economy in South Africa has struggled significantly more than other countries.” Source.

The US alone could force the issue with SA and with the EU following there would be no choice for South Africa but to stop exporting weapons to Russia.