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President elect Donald Trump made scant mention of Africa during his campaign: in fact, his engagement with the continent has thus far been limited to a handful of Twitter posts. As such, any efforts to discern his Africa policy at this stage are speculative at best. However, there is a general consensus that because other, more pressing, priorities are likely to get in the way, Trump will be restrained from implementing radical changes to US-Africa policy. A more aggressive stance may be adopted should trade deals hit American jobs –...

Women in business have been encouraged to take advantage and participate in the lucrative US preferential trade scheme known as the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for better profits. African Women’s Entrepreneurship Programme (AWEP) chairperson, Chigedze Chinyepi said this when addressing women in business during AWEP’s capacity building workshop that was held at Tati River Lodge recently. Chinyepi said Botswana is one of the eligible countries, but businesses are failing to utilise AGOA. “This is worrisome; currently...

Across Africa, the approaching presidency of Donald Trump has provoked deep uncertainty over how the United States will pursue policies ranging from counter-terrorism and trade, to aid and climate change. Many African countries had high hopes that Barack Obama would bring transformative benefits to the continent and were left disappointed as he winds down his time in office. But Trump's rise to power poses fresh questions that reveal the lack of concrete detail on his foreign policy plans - while the president-elect himself has seldom...

Speaking this week during the validation workshop of the draft AGOA strategy in Gaborone, George Makore said the AGOA office should be headed by a coordinator to be assisted by experts in export development, investment promotion, and information dissemination. “The process of setting up the institutional structure should be initiated within 60 days of approval of the strategy,” he stated. While the ministry of investment, trade and industry will be the custodian of the AGOA response strategy, Makore said the implementation requires...

For Africa, at stake in this election of Donald Trump is the strong bipartisan consensus in Congress that has been the cornerstone of U.S. policy toward the continent for the last three administrations. This consensus, supported by Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama, was predicated on the notion that Africa has opportunities worth U.S. attention and investment. In the past two decades, Congress not only passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), but also enacted transformative initiatives such as the President's Emergency...

Uncertainty was the overriding reaction in South Africa yesterday after Donald Trump’s stunning upset victory in the US presidential election. However, Trump is likely to be as indifferent to Africa as he was in his first foreign policy campaign speech in April – when he barely mentioned the continent. Trump beat market favourite Hillary Clinton to become the 45th US president yesterday. Nelson Mandela Bay exporter SJM Flex South Africa head Deon Joubert, vice-chairman of the Eastern Cape chapter of the Exporters Club of South...

US President-elect Donald Trump’s ascension to the country’s highest office yesterday sparked fears over the future of South Africa’s trade relationship with the US through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). Daniel Silke, a political economic analyst, said yesterday that Trump’s victory coupled with the Brexit vote earlier this year signalled uncharted territory for African markets and developing countries. Silke told delegates at the 46th annual International Association of Financial Executives World Congress held in...

Donald J. Trump will be the next president of the world’s most powerful country, and no corner of the globe will be immune from the consequences. Here’s what African can expect: Goodbye AGOA? Trump doesn’t like trade deals, especially ones that he thinks are weighted against America. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a prime example: it’s designed to give African countries easier access to US markets by scrapping import duties on certain goods. Non-oil exports from Africa to the US, under the auspices of AGOA, have...

If American brands like McDonald's‚ Starbucks and Krispy Kreme see a dip in South African sales‚ the country's president-elect Donald Trump is not likely to be the reason. This is according to Alan Mukoki‚ CEO of the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry‚ following Trump's presidential victory on Wednesday. "American brands have their own independence‚ much bigger than Trump." If anything‚ it is the policies of the South African government that could break the operations of US brands in the country‚ he said. What...

The textiles and garments industry in Lesotho, exported at least $330 million worth of products to the U.S. last year, making it the country’s largest private-sector employer as the nation reaps big from the African and Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The tiny Southern African nation is one of the African nations benefiting from the trade pact signed in 2000, allowing at least 6,000 products from 38 sub-Saharan African to enter the U.S. market duty free. About 80 percent of the nation’s textiles and garment exports go to the U.S.,...