Us Is Discussing Sanctions On South Africa, Potential Trump Envoy Says

Joel Pollak, who is thought to be frontrunner for the next US ambassador to South Africa in President Donald Trumps administration, says the White House is discussing possible sanctions on South Africa.

The South Africa-born Pollak is a conservative political commentator and the senior editor at Breitbart, a far-right American news website.

In an interview with Alex Hogg on BizNewsTV on Thursday 27 February, Pollak criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for co-authoring an article in Foreign Policy that attacks Trumps policy of imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court.

Ramaphosa co-authored the article, which was published earlier this week, with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

The three leaders announced that their countries, along with Bolivia, Honduras and Namibia, have launched the Hague Group, a coalition committed to taking decisive, coordinated action in pursuit of accountability for Israel's crimes.

Pollak said the article comes in the context of efforts to repair relations between the US and South Africa.

To come up with an article like this is raising the stakes significantly and it has actually given the Trump administration an excuse, if it needed one, to formally kick South Africa out of AGOA and also to consider sanctions against Cyril Ramaphosa and the African National Congress for their conduct, he said.

This article is a broadside against the Trump administration. The White House is aware of it and is reacting to it. Im not exactly sure what the response is going to be, but there is a discussion of sanctions and other significant steps that may be taken, including with respect to AGOA.

South Africas membership of AGOA Africa Growth and Opportunity Act gives it duty free access to the US market for some of its exports.

The countrys exports under AGOA amounted to 3.6 billion R66.5 billion at current exchange rates in 2022, representing 25 percent of its total exports to the US, according to a Parliamentary Budget Office brief in February.