US-SACU FTA
US-Southern Africa Customs Union Free Trade Agreement
Nearly three years since the start of negotiations, the free trade agreement between the US and the Southern Africa Customs Union (comprised of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, and South Africa) remains stalled. While the Southern Africa negotiators have asked for a more limited agreement that takes into account their level of economic development, the US insists that any Free Trade Agreement must be comprehensive, covering investment, services, and health, among other areas.
• Investment. Under an FTA with the US, SACU countries would likely have to give up any requirements that foreign investors use local inputs and employment, making it difficult for SACU governments to link these investments to development of their local economies. Foreign companies could use the investment rules under the FTA to sue SACU governments they believe have restricted the earning potential of their investments through the passage of laws designed to protect the public health and the environment.
• Services. The right to essential services such as water, health care, and education should not be threatened by provisions in an FTA. However, the US would likely require that SACU countries open these sectors to privatization, making it possible that poor people who cannot afford access will be forced to go without. Countries in Southern Africa already face enormous problems, such as lack of access to clean water and extremely high prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS. Requiring them to open up public essential services to private control for profit could worsen access for those who cannot afford them.
• Health. Like other agreements, the intellectual property rules in the US-SACU FTA would threaten access to affordable medicines for millions of people suffering from diseases such as HIV/AIDS. The US demands that FTA partners accept rules that go beyond those already agreed to at the World Trade Organization. Developing countries that are struggling with enormous health problems, particularly those with the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world, should not be forced to accept rules that would limit generic competition with brand-name drugs that could save lives.