News Search

The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted in favour of approving a 10-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).According to media reports, lawmakers from both Democratic and Republican parties supported the legislation during a vote last week, but the Senate still needs to pass the House Bill before President Obama can sign it into law.“Nearly 400 members of the House of Representatives voted to support extending AGOA. “This incredible bipartisan vote was the result of years of work,”...

For observers of international relations and trade policy issues, there was not much to catch the attention in President Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation address in February. Four months later, however, it is interesting to note that Zuma may have been in on a secret when it comes to African relations with the US. He said: "The renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) beyond September 2015 and a pledge to support African-led peace initiatives in the continent are among the significant outcomes of the US-Africa Leaders’...

The poultry industry had to make a sacrifice in trade talks with the US and the signing of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) accord but the economy will benefit as a whole, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said on Monday. Government this weekend confirmed that an agreement was reached between the two countries as to how much chicken could be brought into South Africa. The deal means South Africa can now sign up to trade terms for the new round of the AGOA for the next 10 years. Davies says he knows this is difficult...

The renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a key topic of discussion at the ongoing Source Africa 2015—the largest textile, apparel and footwear trade event in Africa. The three-day event, which will go on till June 11 in South Africa’s Cape Town, is being supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is committed to strengthening trade and investment in Africa. Speakers at seminars on key topics such as ‘AGOA Renewal – the next 10 years’ include Gail Strickler, AUSTR for...

Africa's textile and apparel exports to the United States could quadruple to $4 billion over the next decade through an extended duty-free trade treaty, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. The trade program known as the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), currently before American lawmakers, provides eligible sub-Saharan countries duty-free access to the world's top apparel market, giving Africa a competitive edge over suppliers such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. The U.S. administration has already called for Congress to renew the...

The announcement over the past weekend that the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) and their US counterpart, the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (Usapeec) have reached agreement over a dispute about South African anti-dumping duties imposed on US chicken legs and thigh portions exported to South Africa, is to be welcomed, but worryingly this may be as the Americans say “a day late and a dollar short” – ie too little too late. This dispute has been a festering sore in South Africa’s trading relationship with the US for a...

South Africa has described the deal struck on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) with the US poultry industry as a win-win situation, despite the risk of job losses and the possible forfeiture of almost R1 billion in income for the local poultry sector. While there had been concerns about the impact the 65 000 tons of US poultry exports would have on the local market, South African Poultry Association chief executive Kevin Lovell said yesterday that measures were being taken to minimise the impact on jobs and production. Lovell...

South African poultry producers’ shares fell on Monday after Pretoria reached a deal to open the country to US chicken imports, threatening the firms’ grip on a 2 billion kg-a-year market. Poultry producer Astral Foods fell 4.05% while Quantum Foods Holdings dipped 3.30%. At 36.4 kg per capita in 2013, according to data from South Africa’s Poultry Association (SAPA), the country is Africa’s top chicken consumer and number four in the world, making it a lucrative target for global producers. The ending of 15 years of punitive...

The agreement reached between the US and SA allowing for the import of thousands of chickens from the US could result in job losses in the local poultry industry, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies says. "The imports will have an impact on domestic production and jobs but within the range of tolerability for the industry," Mr Davies told Business Day on Sunday. The job losses would be offset to some extent by those to be created when companies, mostly black economic empowerment firms, are awarded contracts to process and package the...

South Africa’s "chicken war" with the US has been resolved, removing a barrier to the renewal of a key trade agreement. Restrictions on US poultry imports to South Africa had threatened South Africa’s inclusion in the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which enables African countries to import certain products to the US duty-free. “We had a discussion on a quota of poultry products that would enter South Africa and essentially this will consolidate and fortify South Africa’s position in the African Growth and...

The US Senate’s recent passing of a bill extending the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) for 10 years with SA indicates that this unilateral preference scheme enjoys sufficient support in the US. However, for SA the negative sentiment about its continued inclusion among Agoa beneficiaries found its way into the draft bill and sends a strong message that better market access arrangements into the US is needed as a matter of urgency to ensure it is not subject to the whims of US legislators pandering to domestic interest...

Lesotho is at risk of losing 35,000 jobs in the textile industry if the U.S. drops the nation from its preferential trade accord because of worsening political tension in the country, a labor union group said. Lesotho must avoid a similar fate as Swaziland, which was dropped from the African Growth and Opportunity Act, Ts’eliso Ramochela, secretary general of the Alliance of Progressive Trade Unions, said by phone on Sunday. The U.S. has voiced concerns about the political situation in Lesotho, he said. Lesotho is a beneficiary of AGOA,...

It is cleat that former South African ambassador Malcolm Ferguson does not understand the laws of international trade as his claim that South Africa’s use of antidumping duties to deal with the US’s dumping of surplus bone-in chicken portions contravene World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules is incorrect, (Time for a reality check of what is at stake in Agoa talks, Business Report, May 28). He states that in general, WTO rules only allow for the imposition of antidumping duties where export prices are below those in the exporter’s home...

Good ideas sometimes die not from opposition but from mere neglect. Case in point: the African Growth and Opportunity Act. This is a free-trade deal between the U.S. and 39 sub-Saharan countries that expires in September. As Congress debates whether to give President Barack Obama authority to conclude the better-known Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Africa agreement is in danger of slipping between the cracks. Its expiration would be a heavy blow to the African countries that have received duty-free treatment on exports to the U.S. since...

Less than a month after US legislators introduced a bipartisan bill in Congress seeking to renew the signature African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for another 10 years, the proposed law sailed past its first hurdle with overwhelming approval in the Senate during a May 14 vote. This paves the way for the AGOA legislation, which is part of the “Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015,” to be sent to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to be further pared before it passes into law. [Download the legislation...

Excellent weather conditions in South Africa’s Western and Northern Cape regions have contributed to an earlier than normal citrus harvest, with the first U.S.-bound shipments due to arrive over the next two to three weeks.   A representative of the Western Cape Citrus Producers Forum (WCCPF) – a consortium of about 300 growers eligible to export to the U.S. – said the fruit’s overall quality was looking very promising as well. “Favorable weather conditions and optimum fruit ripeness determined the onset of the...

Any South African interested enough to follow the arcane negotiations between the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) and their US counterparts, the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council (Usapeec) over so-called anti-dumping customs duties levied on US chicken exports to South Africa, can only have viewed recent developments with increasing alarm. The discussions around the application of South African anti-dumping tariffs imposed on US poultry exports have been ongoing for months, but the political climate surrounding them became highly...

Legislation to reauthorize the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), along with several other trade preference programs, was approved in the Senate on a 97-1 vote. It now heads to the House for consideration. AGOA provides beneficiary countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with duty-free access for certain products to the U.S. market. The legislation would renew for 10 years the program, which is set to expire in September. In the context of AGOA renewal, NPPC has raised concerns about a de facto ban on U.S. pork imports by South...

It is a welcome development that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has moved closer to reauthorization. However, much more can and should be done through AGOA to strengthen intellectual property (IP) rights in Africa, particularly in the continent’s creative sectors. Africa’s creative sectors have the potential to be key economic drivers and IP protections are critical to ensuring that both artists and countries can enjoy not only the cultural but also the economic benefits of these sectors. By...

The African Growth and Opportunity Act — a trade provision that allows thousands of products from African countries to enter the U.S. tax-free — is due to expire in September. While the U.S. Senate has recently passed legislation to extend the Act for another 10 years, it still has to go through the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, many say the program has only benefited a few sub-Saharan African countries and needs some revisions. When President Obama visited Africa two years ago, people were visibly excited....

New conditions attached to the US’s African Growth and Opportunities Act (Agoa) and changes in US trade policy would reduce the value of the measure for SA while raising its costs, Trade and Industry Rob Davies said on Thursday. This is the first time Mr Davies has expressed disillusionment over the way the renewal of the act, which expires at the end of September, has been used to extract concessions from SA. He said he would raise the matter in the Cabinet shortly. The US senate recently passed a bill extending Agoa for 10 years with...

US business is once again using the looming renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a key trade scheme that gives sub-Saharan African countries preferential access into the US market, as leverage to oppose legislation giving locals majority stakes in foreign-owned security companies. The Security Industry Association of America (SIA) has blasted the South African law requiring foreign-owned security companies to sell at least 51 percent of their businesses to locals. Yesterday, it emerged that SIA was now demanding that...

On Thursday of last week and with a vote of 97-1, the U.S. Senate approved the “Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015,” which includes reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). With this action, the Senate seeks to reaffirm the “centerpiece of trade relations between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa,” as well as enduring bipartisan consensus for stronger commercial ties with the region. The legislation now goes to the U.S. House of Representatives. As this bill moves closer toward becoming a...

Following the registration of federations in the country, Minister of Labour and Social Security Winnie Magagula has called for the United States of America to review the country’s AGOA status.  Magagula said now that government had met another important benchmark and committed to meeting all of them, they were expecting that the US would review the status.  “As Swaziland we are expecting that after meeting such an important benchmark of registering federations which means that workers will now be able to sit down with...

US Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) today introduced the African Free Trade Initiative Act, which would require the president to establish a plan to negotiate and enter into Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in sub-Saharan Africa and would require the United States Trade Representative, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and USAID to coordinate and collaborate together on how to implement the goals established in the Free Trade Agreement plan. The legislation was also introduced as an amendment to the Trade Promotion...

The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), Board Chair, Mr. Paul Hinks, expressed confidence that the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) will soon be cleared and renewed by the US Congress given that the existing legislation expires on 30 September 2015. The renewal of AGOA was at the fore of discussions during a courtesy call yesterday by a delegation of the CCA led by Mr Paul Hinks, on the Prime Minister, Sir Anerood Jugnauth, at the Treasury Building in Port Louis. In a statement after the meeting, Mr Paul Hinks, pointed out that the...

Newly-elected Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, Mmusi Maimane, says political uncertainty and labour relations are the biggest challenges facing business investments in the country. The DA leader was addressing top business executives at a breakfast organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Sandton earlier on Monday. He also discussed South Africa's economic challenges and the DA's policies regarding the inclusive economy and jobs. Just a few days into his job, Maimane has lashed out against the current political environment, which...

The Senate last night passed the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which could potentially support small businesses and smallholder farmers in Africa, helping to alleviate hunger there by allowing exports to U.S. markets. The bill passed by a vote of 99 to 1. This legislation aims to strengthen U.S.-Africa trade opportunities. While the existing authorization will expire on Sept. 30, 2015, the Senate bill extends that authorization for another 10 years, until 2025.  "Reauthorization of AGOA could encourage job creation through...

The US administration must make "aggressive" use of tools in the updated African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to pressure SA to comply with its conditions, senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate finance committee, said on Thursday. The Utah Republican spoke ahead of a 97-1 Senate vote to extend for 10 years Agoa’s nonreciprocal trade preferences for African countries that meet its eligibility requirements. The House of Representatives is expected to adopt its own version of the legislation early in June. The Senate version...

The Senate has passed two trade-related bills Democrats were seeking and has begun debate on legislation that would fast-track congressional approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a massive free-trade deal with the Asia Pacific region. Lawmakers approved the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a measure to encourage sub-Saharan African countries to increase trade access and build free markets, by a vote of 97 to 1. They also passed a customs and currency bill that would prevent countries from keeping their artificially low in...

The Republic of the Congo offers “tremendous opportunities” to U.S. investors and both countries are working closely to develop trade partnerships. The business climate in the Republic of the Congo is “trending in the right direction” and has become ripe for foreign investment, according to the latest comments from U.S. officials. The U.S. embassy in the Central African nation believes Congo “offers tremendous opportunities to those companies and investors capable of taking advantage of them” and the two countries are now...

Failure by Tanzania’s producers and exporters to take advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has prompted reaction and the appeal for collective national response strategies to reverse the trend. Tanzania’s trading in the preferential zone has been dropping drastically over the years from 18.8 per cent in 2000 to 4.1 per cent in 2015. Unveiling statistics during an audience with local producers, exporters’ representatives from financial institutions among others in Dar es Salaam recently, both the Minister for...