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In an era in which multilateral trade arrangements have garnered more public notoriety than ever before, the suboptimal trade and investment relationship between America and Africa, as underpinned by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), is one of the less controversial ones. AGOA could nevertheless use some adjustments or augmentations to facilitate deeper U.S.-Africa commercial relations. For instance, adjusting AGOA’s ori- gin rules could nudge the private sector on both sides of the Atlantic towards gains for U.S. and...

Ahead of Sierra Leone’s U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) strategy launch, two Trade Hub-hosted workshops for national officials focused on AGOA standards and other customs procedures. The Freetown trainings, hosted on November 15 and 16, attracted participants from Sierra Leone’s Department of Foreign Trade, the Executive Office of the Permanent Secretary, and the Department of Domestic Commerce and Trade at the Ministry of Trade and Industry. “Sierra Leone has real competiveness in agribusiness,” said Mr. Hashim...

Seventeen years into the life of the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), two key issues stand out: first, that the preference utilization rate—as indicated by the meagre increases in African exports to the United States—remains marginal; and second, that the AGOA initiative has not helped build diversified African economies. This reality in turn raises two critical issues: that Africa’s structural challenges need to be addressed; and that extensions of the AGOA in and of themselves may not be the solution for the...

As one of the African continent’s largest and most sophisticated economies, South Africa offers a myriad of opportunities for engagement with the United States on diplomatic, commercial, security, and social fronts. It is a self-sufficient, complex, and dynamic country in a struggling, complex, and dynamic region. Yet, the centrality of South Africa to the United States’ relationship with the wider continent is underappreciated by Washington’s policy community, which has become distracted by the displays of dysfunctionality and...

The African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, was passed into law by the 200th Congress on May 18, 2000. The bill was renewed up to the year 2025 in 2015, during the Obama administration. The primary purpose of the AGOA legislation is to establish a new trade and investment policy for sub-Saharan Africa, along with expanding trade benefits to the Caribbean Basin. The bill greatly improves the access that sub-Saharan African countries have to the U.S. market. AGOA seeks to expand U.S. aid to regional integration efforts...

Lesotho is expected to register three percent economic growth in the current fiscal year. But the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that the government needs to aggressively control spending and address the fragile political situation in the country. The warnings are part of the IMF findings which were released this week after an IMF staff team, led by Christine Dieterich, visited Maseru from 2 to 15 November 2017 for consultations with the government and other local stakeholders. The IMF staff team met with Finance Minister,...

From November 22-23, the Hub collaborated with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives to conduct stakeholder workshops on home décor and fashion accessories, textile and apparel, and coffee. Participants discussed the supply constraints that can hinder exports and developed sector action plans to mitigate those constraints. They also refined the Hub-supported end-market analysis draft reports designed to help Kenyan businesses take advantage of U.S. market opportunities through the African Growth and Opportunity Act...

The US International Trade Commission has initiated an investigation into recent developments in the country's trade and investment with sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the region's trade performance and export prospects. In requesting the investigation, the Office of the US Trade Representative said that as the US works to encourage fair and reciprocal trade with African partners it is important to have factual information on where the US is succeeding in African markets, where there are the greatest prospects for increased trade and...

We need to create jobs, help facilitate trade and address the challenges of the Africa of the future, says Donald Yamamoto, who is in charge of African affairs at the US State Department. African foreign ministers and African Union officials have gathered in Washington for a high level conference hosted by the US Department of State. On the agenda are issues around trade, security, governance and the US relationship with African countries. DW spoke to Donald Yamamoto, the acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. DW: How...

National President, Nigeria-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC), Olabitan Famutimi, has said Nigeria will not miss out again on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). He stated this during the NACC Member’s Induction/Member’s Evening held in Lagos, during the week. AGOA is a United States (US) Trade Act to enhance market access to the US for qualified sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. According to Famutimi, qualification for AGOA preferences is based on a set of conditions contained in the legislation, and in order to...

The Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of Ghana has set aside $10 million to support the textiles and garments industry from the first quarter of next year. The Chief Executive Officer of the development bank, Mr Lawrence Agyinsam, who announced this in Accra on Thursday, said his outfit would also support training and skills development in the sub-sector, since it was one of the government’s 10 industrialisation pillars. He said the garments and apparel sub-sector was also one of the bank’s key areas of focus, since the bank believed it had...

Kenya targets to increase her exports to 20 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in three years’ up from the current 14.5 percent, buoyed by the ongoing efforts to exploit destination markets in over 80 countries.  Trade Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo says this will be realized by among others, product diversification and value addition initiatives. The formulation of the National Export Strategy (NES) commenced in September last year and is set for finalization by the end of next month, a process which has so far seen...

Despite the controversy and political fallout surrounding the deaths of four special operations soldiers in Niger recently, it is clear that the Trump administration still has enough room to refocus on Africa among its foreign policy goals. Policies, personnel and priorities on Africa remain a work in progress. There is still a possibility to orientate its policies in a way that ensures a win-win outcome — especially in the potential for enhanced trade and investment with the continent. Washington ignores Africa at its own expense,...

  On October 12th the New York Times brought the discussion of second hand clothing in East Africa to the mainstream. Unbeknownst to most in North America, the United States trades millions of dollars worth of used clothing to East African countries essentially tax free. African countries export duty free products to the United States in return. The bilateral trade agreement that makes this transaction possible, the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), is the center of a controversy roiling African-US trade...