from ODIRILE TOTENG in Gaborone, Botswana
Botswana Bureau
GABORONE, (CAJ News) – THE Southern African Development Community (SADC) is concerned by the imposition of tariffs by the United States on imported products, including those from the regional states.
A new baseline tariff of 10 percent on all imports took effect from April 5, while “reciprocal” tariffs will enter into force on April 9.
The new tariffs will affect all 16 SADC member states to varying degrees.
These reciprocal tariffs are additional to existing tariff rates.
The Botswana-headquartered SADC said while its, except for Seychelles and Zimbabwe, currently enjoy duty-free access to the US market under the US’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the reciprocal tariffs would nullify these benefits of AGOA.
The current term of AGOA was due to expire by the end of September.
In response to these developments, SADC has disclosed it is carrying out a detailed assessment of the impact of the global geopolitical developments on the different sectors of the region, for consideration by an extraordinary meeting of the SADC Council of Ministers to be held in June.
In addition, the SADC Secretariat will be carrying out a detailed assessment of the impact of the US measures on trade with the bloc, for review in forthcoming meetings of the Committee of Ministers of Trade (CMT) and the Ministerial Task Force on Regional Integration (MTF) in June.
“SADC reiterates its commitment to further the objectives of the SADC Treaty through continued adherence to multilateral trade rules and fair competition administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and remains open to engagement with stakeholders on these matters,” it stated.
– CAJ News