A group of both US Democratic and Republican lawmakers have asked the White House to move this year's African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) summit away from South Africa, as they warn that the country looks set to lose its AGOA status.

AGOA gives duty-free access to 25% of South African exports to the US, SA's second-biggest single-country trading partner after China.

In a letter, dated June 9 and addressed to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Trade Representative Katherine Tai and National Security Advisor Jacob Sullivan, the group said:

(We) question whether a country in danger of losing AGOA benefits should have the privilege of hosting the 2023 AGOA Forum.

A report about the letter was first published in the New York Times on Tuesday morning.

The group of lawmakers – which includes Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who chairs the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, and Republican Michael McCaul, chair of the US House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee - is accusing South Africa of deepening its military relationship with Russia over the past year.

"Late last year, a Russian cargo vessel subject to US sanctions docked in South Africa's largest naval port, and intelligence suggests that the South African government used this opportunity to covertly supply Russia with arms and ammunition that could be used in its illegal war in Ukraine."

The charge has been denied by the South African government, with President Cyril Ramaphosa launching an independent investigation into the accusation.

But the group also points out that South Africa held joint military exercises with Russia and China, and in April, authorised a Russian military cargo plane subject to US sanctions to land at a South African air force base.

In addition, South Africa is due to host the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) Summit and is "working to facilitate" the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest on charges related to the alleged unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. As an ICC signatory, South Africa would be obliged to arrest him.

"These actions by South Africa call into question its eligibility for trade benefits under AGOA due to the statutory requirement that beneficiary countries not engage in activities that undermine US national security or foreign policy interests," the group says.

It added that it was seriously concerned that hosting the 2023 AGOA Forum in South Africa would serve as an "implicit endorsement" of the country's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and may also be a possible violation of US sanctions law.

Our concerns are shared by many South African citizens and businesses, who are increasingly vocal about deteriorating conditions in the country.

The loss of AGOA would be a hard blow to South African vehicle exports in particular. The US was SA's second-largest total automotive export market in 2022, with vehicles and components to the value of R24-billion being exported there. 

Coons has close ties with South Africa, and in his youth volunteered with the South African Council of Churches, then led by late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. In 1986, he published a book about the anti-apartheid disinvestment movement among US universities and its impact on South Africa.