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Today, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross released reports on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s investigations into the impact on our national security from imports of steel mill products and from imports of wrought and unwrought aluminum. These investigations were carried out under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended. All classified and business confidential information in the reports was redacted before the release. “I am glad that we were able to provide this analysis and these recommendations to the...

Nigeria's agricultural exports to the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) increased from around $3 million to $9 million in 2017 but the level is still very small, a trade specialist with the Department of State, Ace Gazis, has said. This is a challenge mostly common in a number of countries that depend heavily on oil, Gazis said while speaking on Nigeria's contribution to AGOA last year via a teleconference in Washington, DC, which was monitored by our correspondent in Abuja. The trade expert however said...

East African nations that are en-route to banning the importation of used clothes may soon pay the price after Washington said it will impose trade penalties in retaliation to what it sees as a blockage of free trade. The US State Department's Harry Sullivan, the Africa Bureau acting head of the economic and regional affairs, said Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have until next week to reverse the decision or face the penalties. The East African leaders are expected to meet at the EAC Heads of State Summit on Infrastructure and Health...

On 6 February, tralac (through tralac Associate Eckart Naumann) joined the Tourism, Trade and Investment Promotion Agency for Cape Town (WESGRO), along with the US embassy, the USAID Trade and Investment Hub (SATIHUB) and the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in presenting an exporter-focused AGOA seminar at the new Invest SA One Stop Shop in Cape Town’s CBD. Attendance at the seminar was oversubscribed and attracted a diverse range of interested stakeholders. This included representatives from industries...

Ghana has been lauded for its performance under African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA); more than doubling its exports to the United States to about $300 million between 2016 and 2017, reflecting a general growth of African exports to the US under AGOA.  Mr. Harry Sullivan, Acting Director for Economic and Regional Affairs of the Bureau of African Affairs, said African non-oil exports to the US under AGOA had grown from 1.3 billion in 2001, the year that the legislation was passed, to 4.2 billion in 2016, with the trend continuing...

The  United State has advised the Nigerian government to diversify the Nigerian economy by creating  an enabling environment for processing of agricultural products to encourage sales of such products in the international market.  Acting Director for Economic and Regional Affairs, Mr Harry Sullivan made the call in a teleconference with newsmen organised by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy. He said that Nigeria’s over-dependence on oil could hinder economic growth; therefore, there was need for...

OPERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for standing by and welcome to the Department of State AGOA and U.S. Economic Policy in Africa conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to our first speaker, Mr. Brian Neubert. Please go ahead, sir. MODERATOR: Thank you and good afternoon to everyone from the U.S. Department...

Nigeria may have to do more under its diversification agenda and remove several restrictions to investments if it hopes to benefit from the extended trade deal, Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by the United States, the State Department's Acting Director for Economic and Regional Affairs, Harry Sullivan said during a telephonic briefing on Tuesday. According to data from the department, Nigeria accounted for a paltry volume of $9 million out of $2.7 billion agricultural exports recorded by the continent to the United States in...

Despite the huge trade deficit between the United States and African countries, a US government official says the country is working to make trade with the continent more reciprocal. He says trade has been positive as total US, Africa trade rose from 16.8 per cent from $33 billion in 2016 to $38.5 billion in 2017. Speaking to journalists during a teleconference Tuesday February 13, 2018, Harry Sullivan, the Bureau of African Affairs Acting Director for Economic and Regional Affairs said US exports to Africa increased 4 per cent to $13.1...