South Africa stands at
a crossroads in its trade
relationship with the United
States since the new Trump
administration is showing a
strong preference for bilateral
trade deals
that favour
(or at least
are not
‘unfair to’)
American
companies,
says Tigers
managing
director Paul
Lawrence.
“In its
current form
the African
Growth and Opportunity Act
(Agoa) is viewed in the US as an
aid programme as opposed to
a trade programme and is not
facilitating two way trade,” says
Lawrence.
The question is whether
South Africa should continue
to rely mainly on its GSP and
Agoa preferences (although
Agoa is scheduled to expire in
2025) – or whether it should
be exploring the prospects
of negotiating a Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) with the
United States.
“This would bring
greater balance to
the relationship
and ensure that
South Africa
sets its sights
more on trade
competitiveness
than trade
concessions,” says
Lawrence.
“But these are
political issues
that we cannot answer – we can
only speculate.”
Lawrence is upbeat about
growth on the route. “For
Tigers this is one of our
stronger regions with good
office coverage and the benefit
of operating on one global
platform,” he says.
“We are looking at growing
Tiger Fresh, Tigers’ forwarding
perishables division, for the
export of South African wines
in particular to the US.”
E-Commerce solutions
are at the heart of Tigers’
value proposition, according
to Lawrence. “We operate
15 omni-channel fulfilment
centres in the USA and
Canada – and as an enterprise
solutions company our
solutions are scalable and
replicable.
“Average annual growth of
the e-Commerce product for
Tigers in North America has
exceeded 70% per year,” he
adds.
The company sees
considerable opportunity and
potential in the South African
market – and opportunities
to fast forward South Africa’s
e-Commerce development
based on expertise gained
in other markets is already a
reality, says Lawrence.
INSERT & CAPTION
We operate 15 omnichannel
fulfilment
centres in the USA
and Canada.
–Paul Lawrence
