Strong bipartisan support for the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) is likely to be transposed on to the planned free-trade agreement (FTA) between the US and the five-country Southern African Customs Union (Sacu), a senior embassy official asserted yesterday.

The official was responding to questions on whether rising anti-FTA sentiments in the US, which are being expressed by Democratic Presidential candidate Senator John Kerry in particular, could affect the passage of the trade deal, anticipated for conclusion by December.

His views mirrored those of South Africa’s chief trade negotiator Xavier Carim, who, earlier this month, told journalists that good progress was being made in the talks and that the process was unlikely to be hindered by political developments.

However, both Carim and the official agreed that it would be best if the FTA was passed through Congress before the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) act, which gives the President the mandate to fast-track trade deals, expires in June 2005.

At the fourth round of negotiations, which took place in Walvis Bay in February, the two sides agreed to a schedule for wrapping up the talks by December, with four more meetings planned for between May and October before a culminating session in Washington, DC, beginning on December 8.

It is understood that US officials and politicians, on both sides of the political divide, have expressed a willingness to support initiatives that boost trade with Africa.

It is also the first deal that the US is negotiating with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and neither the Republicans nor the Democrats are likely to want it undermined, given its symbolic significance.

In addition, the fact that Sacu’s exports to the US accounted for less than a per cent of all imports, the potential for injury is extremely limited as are the political risks associated with the deal.

The bipartisan support for the FTA is likely to be underlined by the plans to extend the Agoa to 2015 as well as extend, by four years, the key ‘third country’ textile provision to 2008.

Two Bills, one before Congress and the other before the Senate, have been prepared, with the Congressional Bill having the support of Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott and the Senate Bill begin backed by US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairperson and Republican, Senator Dick Lugar.

Earlier this month, Lugar met with ambassadors from six African nations to promote the passage of the US-African Partnership Act, introduced in the Senate last November. Lugar’s bill is S 1900, while the companion House Bill, being introduced by McDermott and 11 cosponsors, is HR 3573.

Lugar’s Bill extends benefits from 2008 to 2015 and extends the third country textile provision from 2004 to 2008. The latter provision is designed to encourage nascent commercial investment in textile, apparel and agri-business infrastructure and capacity, which would be under severe threat should the benefit be phased out as was intended on October 1 this year.

This third-county textile provision allows the least developed country-beneficiaries under Agoa, as well as Botswana and Nambia, to continue to source textiles for non-African and non-US sources and is based on the reality that there is insufficient competitively-priced material available from the 37 sub-Saharan countries eligible for Agoa, or from the US, which would be an alternative source of supply.

Therefore, it will allow the 18 countries eligible for the third-country textile provision to continue to source elsewhere textiles for use in apparel production and still enjoy duty-free access to the American market.

There is, thus, growing angst among many African countries that the US lawmakers pass Agoa III ahead of the September deadline. Indeed, many argued that, despite the fact that Agoa came into effect in October 2000, they have not enjoyed the full benefit, as it took many of them some time to gain the required ‘visa’ to export apparel under Agoa – some countries have, thus, only had effective access for less than two years.

It also comes at a time when the World Trade Organisation’s multifibre agreement, which set quota limits on apparel trade, is set to expire – the agreement ends in January next year.

That would meant that African apparel producers, which currently enjoy both a tariff and a quota advantage, risked losing both in a matter of months, unless the tariff benefits under Agoa were extended.

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