AGOA & Trump, the GNU & foreign policy - Colonel Chris Wyatt

The United States House of Representatives has voted for a full review of US-SA relations, but  retired Colonel Chris Wyatt, the former Director of African Studies at the US Army War College, says he does not believe the US will remove South Africa from AGOA because it is really just a “soft power foreign policy tool to win us good favour, give us access to places”. However, he says that South Africa should be “warned” that its conduct is detrimental to US national security interests. “South Africa has been getting a free pass for several years,” he says, listing the reasons why South Africa does not even qualify for AGOA . “And you know what? The ANC is welcome to do what they want, but this is a gift. They've gotten this far with their lifelong commitment to the PLO, to Hamas, to Hezbollah, to Iran, to Russia, to Communist China.” Colonel Wyatt - who observed the recent elections in South Africa - says he doesn't see the African National Congress “changing” - and doesn’t think there is anybody in any of the parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) “that can actually influence” the party to change its foreign policies.

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