The Africa for which the 2000 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was promulgated does not exist. This is the case for at least three reasons. One, the emergence of China’s development cooperation model which has left behind roads, rails, bridges and airports, and investments in mining, fishing, and manufacturing has opened the eyes of African policymakers and leaders to the possibility of an alternative way that is characterized less by sharing best practices and developing strategies, and more by something that Africans can see and touch.

This factor significantly changed the psyche of African leaders and will determine how Africa values and shapes partnerships with the rest of the world—including the United States. The second major shift is the birth of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA)—a groundbreaking force for integration with the potential to create an industrial revolution across Africa and resist the types of deals that keep the continent at the bottom of global value chains. Third, the import of Agenda 2063—Africa’s development blueprint that simply did not exist when AGOA was promulgated.