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US-Sub-Saharan Africa AGOA Forum 2018 [includes document downloads]
The 17th United States - Sub-Saharan Africa AGOA Forum is set to take place in Washington D.C. in the week beginning 9 July 2018. Visit the AGOA.info AGOA Forum Section for additional details, which will be made available as soon as they are available. Some of the agenda documents will be draft documents and will be updated regularly. For background information on the AGOA Forum, read here. AGOA.info's AGOA Forum Section is at this link. AGOA Forum downloads are at this link.
US Commerce Secretary set for Kenya visit
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is scheduled to visit Kenya at the end of next month for a bi-lateral trade summit. This will be Mr Ross’ first official visit to Africa and will see the top US trade envoy accompanied by more than 70 delegates from the US private sector, looking to broaden trade and investment ties with Kenya. Outgoing US Ambassador Robert Godec announced the trade summit yesterday, stating that US investors were keen on exploring opportunities around the Government’s ‘Big Four’ agenda. “Kenya and the US share...
'How the United States and Rwanda have fallen out over second-hand clothes' - BBC
US President Donald Trump's "America First" stance on global trade has hit Rwanda, by imposing tariffs on clothing exports from the tiny East African nation. The issue revolves around an obscure import, second-hand clothes, and Rwanda's refusal to back down from the fight. When did the dispute start? In March 2018, the US gave Rwanda 60 days' notice that it would be suspending the landlocked country from selling clothes to America duty free - a status it enjoys under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). Agoa is the...
'AGOA still available for Nigeria till 2025' - Nigerian-American Chamber
The Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) says Nigerian exporters still have an opportunity to explore the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) till 2025. Speaking at the 2nd Edition of the African Food and Products Exhibition and Conference themed, ‘Non-Oil Exports’ Scaling up Productivity to Meet Global Demand’ in Lagos weekend, Olabintan Famutimi, president, NACC, noted that the United States had committed a lot of resources in capacity building to ensure the success of AGOA. Checks show that AGOA...
South African car manufacturers threatened by potential US tariffs
The latest target in President Donald Trump's ongoing trade fight is imported cars and trucks. Trump said earlier this week that the US Commerce Department is investigating possible trade actions on imported vehicles, and the administration is reportedly mulling a 25% tariff, or tax on imports, for the cars. US imported almost 37,000 cars from South Africa last year - it was the second biggest importer of SA vehicles, after the UK (54,400). In 2016, South Africa exported vehicles worth $1.6 billion to the US (R23.5 billion). Ford, BMW...
Trump versus Rwanda in trade battle over used clothes
Early last year, weeks after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, a little known American trade association filed a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative. That seven-page letter set Africa in the cross-hairs of the new administration’s ‘America First’ trade ideology, pitting the world’s largest economy against tiny Rwanda over an unlikely U.S. export: cast-off clothes. In March, the USTR warned Rwanda it would lose some benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), America’s flagship trade...