Johann Rupert, chairperson and founder of Richemont, said the extension of a trade pact that gives South Africa and more than 30 other nations from the continent duty-free access to the world’s biggest economy is vital for his home country.

Rupert, South Africa’s richest person who this month facilitated a call between US President-elect Donald Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, said the continent’s most-industrialized nation needs to be part of the African Growth & Opportunity Act that expires in September.

“Our automobile industry, our farmers, our exports — we will have a serious blow to the economy if we lose AGOA,” Rupert said at a forum in Stellenbosch, South Africa, on Thursday. “I will try to use whatever little influence I have to try and keep AGOA intact.”

There are concerns that South Africa may lose its access to AGOA after it raised US ire by refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and took Israel to the International Court of Justice over accusations of genocide in Gaza. That’s led some US lawmakers to call for a review of trade ties with the nation.

A clause in the pact “says no member who’s a beneficiary of a government should act against the best interests of the United States,” Rupert said. “Now South Africa, certainly in the view of these bilateral Republicans and Democrats, we were not acting in best interests of the United States.”

Still, Trump’s planned appointments to posts that deal with trade are “balanced people,” Rupert said.

AGOA was enacted in 2000 and has since been at the core of US trade and investment policy with sub-Saharan Africa.

Two-way trade between the US and countries that qualify for market access under AGOA exceeded $46-billion in 2022, with $30 billion worth of goods shipped to the US in that year. As much as $10.2 billion worth of goods traded under the preferential trade access program.

Rupert’s Richemont manages brands including Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Van Cleef & Arpels.

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