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Luxury jewellery brand Pichulik is one of the thriving local companies at risk of losing preferential US market space if South Africa is excluded from the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA) arrangement. Billions of rand in trade with the US flows in South Africa’s direction under AGOA; it gives certain companies tariff-free access to the US market, and constitutes about 30% of total sales. But because of this country’s [alleged] support for Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, it is in danger of losing these benefits....

Trade relations between the US and Africa have centred on Congress’s ‘Africa Growth and Opportunities Act’ (AGOA) since 2000, designed to foster the continent’s economic development and prosperity via preferential access to American markets. Yet in the last decade African trade with the United States has stagnated at much the same levels as it was when the Act was passed. David Luke and Jamie Macleod consider how the original impetus behind the AGOA can be revived. Until the Biden Administration, US-Africa...

President Biden called for the immediate repeal of Uganda’s new Anti-Homosexuality Act [ download statement alongside] and warned of possible sanctions in a statement Monday, as his administration evaluates “the implications of this law on all aspects of U.S. engagement with Uganda.”  “This shameful Act is the latest development in an alarming trend of human rights abuses and corruption in Uganda.  The dangers posed by this democratic backsliding are a threat to everyone residing in Uganda, including U.S....

South Africa currently enjoys valuable preferential access to mainly traditional markets – the EU, UK, US, Africa and some South American countries (under Mercosur).  In the equally lucrative and fast-growing South and East Asian region, only one agreement potentially exists - a preferential trade agreement with India that remains under negotiation. No trade agreements exist with Middle Eastern states.  However, government maintains close relationships with most markets in these regions and efforts continue to deepen trade....

Our agricultural sector’s relationship with the US is a two-way stream that is mutually beneficial based on intrinsic value. When preparing for the Agoa summit, this is the narrative we should be pushing.  The comments by US Ambassador Reuben Brigety regarding theLady R shipments sent the South African currency plummeting and inflamed fears about South Africa’s future trade relations with the US. This is a high-stakes issue for South African business, and the agricultural sector in particular. In 2021, South Africa’s total...

Amid diplomatic tensions with the US over an alleged sale of arms to Russia, South Africa is continuing to make the case for its ongoing designation as a beneficiary of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which extends preferential trade access to the giant American market on certain goods and is due to expire in 2025. In a briefing ahead of his Budget Vote, Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel said that he shared the anxiety expressed by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana about the potential...

IN 2000, President Bill Clinton’s administration passed special trade laws to promote trade ties between the US, Africa, and the Caribbean. One of the enactments was the African Growth and Opportunity Act, AGOA. To be eligible to access the benefits of the Act, participating countries are required to meet certain criteria set by the US government. Among the long list of requirements is the adherence to international human rights standards. By insisting that countries seeking to take advantage of the Act to market their products to the...

South Africa’s citrus exports to the United States have over recent years grown to a value of $132m (2022), a consistent performer during the past few turbulent seasons – but it is at risk if the United States decides not to extend their free trade agreement with South Africa due to the latter’s recent closeness to President Putin.During the Clinton administration the United States introduced AGOA, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a preferential trade agreement with many African countries of which South Africa is by far the...

Consistent with the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to the highest levels of transparency in trade agreement negotiations, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today released summaries of texts  ( Download the document alongside or in the Kenya-US STIP section) proposed by the U.S. side during the first negotiating round of the United States-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP), which was held in Nairobi, Kenya from April 17-20, 2023.  The goal of the Partnership is to...

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is announcing the initiation of the annual review of the eligibility of sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (AGOA Subcommittee) is requesting written public comments for this review and will conduct a virtual public hearing on this matter. In developing its recommendations for the President on AGOA country eligibility for calendar year 2024,...

The national security adviser to South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa said it was in his country’s “own interest” to investigate a US accusation that arms were covertly transported to Russia from a Cape Town naval base, as Pretoria tried to calm a diplomatic storm. In an attempt to emphasise South Africa’s neutrality in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, its foreign ministry said that Ramaphosa would speak to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday. Ramaphosa called Russian president Vladimir Putin earlier...

The United States (US) has accused the South African government of supplying ammunition to the Russian Federation through a ship that docked at a naval base in Simon’s Town in South Africa’s Western Cape province late last year. This shock allegation highlights the increasingly strained relations between the US and South Africa and places billions of Rand worth of preferential trade between the countries at risk. “We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel,” said US Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, during...

The Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI), Adeniyi Adebayo has urged Nigerians to take advantage of the African Growth Opportunity Act, (AGOA). Adebayo said this when he received the report of the Technical Committee on the utilization of AGOA in Abuja on Tuesday. The report which was delivered by the Co-chairman of the Committee and Director of Trade, FMITI Suleiman Audu on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee and Director General of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Ezra Yakusak stated that the Committee...

There was more good news for the successful implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement in December 2022, when a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the United States (US) Trade Representative and the AfCFTA Secretariat at the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit (Summit) in Washington DC. The MoU covers expanded engagement between the two regions and intends to “promote equitable, sustainable, and inclusive trade; boost competitiveness; and attract investment to the continent.” It was also...

The US is giving Kenya $55 million for expansion of export processing zones in a move that will boost Nairobi’s apparel exports. US initiative Prosper Africa and the US Embassy announced the funding at the launch of the US-Kenya Business Roadshow held on April 25 in New York. The announcement was part of the commitments made by President Joe Biden at the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit last year. The funds will be channelled under USAid and Prosper Africa – a US government initiative to increase trade and investment between African...

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi is in Washington at the head of a delegation lobbying the Biden administration and congressional leaders. This comes amid concerns that South Africa’s controversial stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine is jeopardising SA’s economic and political relations with America. Sydney Mufamadi’s team is likely to focus its efforts on trying to ensure that South Africa is not expelled from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a US law that gives duty- and...

Thank you, Scott, for the kind introduction. It is a pleasure to partner with the Prosper Africa initiative to drive investment in Kenya and countries across the African continent. I am happy to kick off our U.S.-Kenya Business Roadshow with all of you today, and to announce that we will be partnering with Prosper Africa throughout the year to engage businesses and investors in cities across the United States. Our next stops include San Francisco and Chicago. A lot of people have often asked me, “Why did you want to be the ambassador to...

South Africa’s citrus sector in the western parts of the country has always retained a keen interest in US political views over promoting African trade to the US Promoting better access for Africa into the US is done mainly under the AGOA (African Growth and Opportunities ACT) which have benefited exporters from Africa since 2000. It will now be under review and perhaps re-negotiated during the next year if a new act has to come into effect in 2025. It is certain that in the USA there will be calls for changes where the House of...

The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America and the Kenya on the occasion of U.S.-Kenya Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Washington, D.C. on April 24, 2023. Begin Text: The Governments of the United States of America and the Republic of Kenya held the third iteration of the U.S.-Kenya Bilateral Strategic Dialogue in Washington, D.C. on April 24, 2023.  The U.S.-Kenya Strategic Partnership is grounded in mutual cooperation, respect, and a common vision for sustainable...

Kenya and the United States of America have successfully completed the second round of negotiations on Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP), an agreement that aims to strengthen the two countries’ bilateral and investment relations. Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry Cabinet Secretary Moses Kuria said a lot of progress has been made in the negotiations, an indication that both states are committed to enhancing trade between the two countries. He said the partnership also aims at boosting trade and investment...

The impact of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) programme on beneficiary countries within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) can be substantial depending on the sector, according to a report by the US International Trade Commission (USITC). The programme has had a positive impact on poverty reduction and job growth in some countries, particularly in the apparel sector. AGOA benefits accrue to a subset of countries and sectors within Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Over three-quarters of non-crude petroleum imports under AGOA originated from...

Nearly 23 years since the United States established the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, the continent it was created for no longer exists. In the last two decades, there have been three major shifts that have worked together to cultivate a new Africa—an Africa that requires a different approach to trade and economic investment. First, there are China’s development initiatives, which have resulted in roads, rails, bridges, and airports. China has also invested in mining, fishing, and manufacturing, and shown...

The administration of Kenya’s President William Ruto has begun the negotiation round of the proposed bilateral deal with the United States, which will replace the more-than-two-decade-old African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) amid protestations from smallholder farmers. The four-day talks, which kicked off in Nairobi on Monday, follow the round of conceptual discussions held in Washington between February 6 and 10. President Ruto’s negotiating team, led by Trade PS Alfred K’Ombudo, and the Assistant US Trade Representative for...

A major U.S. trade preference program for Sub-Saharan Africa has been successful for developing the region's apparel sector in selected countries, but its benefits are not widespread throughout all countries and sectors, a new report to the U.S. Congress showed on Monday. The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) said its  report on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade benefits shows that they have helped reduce poverty and create jobs in certain countries, particularly for women. But over three quarters of...

Stakeholders now want the government to exclude agriculture digital trade and anti-corruption in its Strategic Trade and Investments Partnership (STIP) with United States. Econews Africa, a pan African Research and Advocacy organisation and Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum (KESSFF) say that Kenya will likely be the loser in the pact is signed in its current state. The STIP is a proposed agreement to act as a successor to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) mechanism that has guided trade between Kenya and US enabling the two...

Cameroon is working to boost export revenues to fend off a potential debt crisis and has relaunched talks with the U.S. to rejoin Washington's flagship trade initiative with Africa, its economy minister said on Monday. The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global shocks provoked by the war in Ukraine have hit African countries hard, denting economic growth and aggravating their sovereign debt positions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that Cameroon, a Central African oil producer, will record...

Last year, the US’s Biden administration announced plans to increase two-way trade and investment between the US and Africa. The starting point was a revamp of the Trump-era “Prosper Africa initiative”. As American secretary of state Antony Blinken visits three African nations – South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda – Kefa Otiso and Francis Owusu provide insights into US-Africa trade relations and what’s being planned to improve them. What sort of trade arrangement is the US proposing? In July 2021,...

The Somali government officially applied to join the 36 African countries on Thursday, benefiting from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The announcement was made during the Somalia AGOA application ceremony, where outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Somalia, Larry André, highlighted the United States’ commitment to expanding and modernizing partnerships in Africa and Somalia. Ambassador André emphasized that the U.S. will focus on working with Somalia and its people to find innovative solutions to new and...

Kenya is hopeful of sealing a trade deal with the US by the end of this year, as the second round of physical meetings heads to Nairobi next month. This comes a mid increased interest in Kenya’s Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) by the US at this year’s American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Business Summit in Nairobi, a strategic platform for strengthening two-way trade and investment between the two countries, and East Africa. A US delegation is expected in Nairobi next month for what is expected to be a...

The United States and Kenya will hold an in-person negotiating round under their Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) in Kenya from April 17-20, 2023.  The United States delegation will be led by Assistant United States Trade Representative Connie Hamilton, and will include representatives from several other U.S. government agencies. Conceptual discussions under the STIP initiative were held in Washington, DC, on February 6-February 10, 2023. During those meetings, the United States and Kenya engaged in productive...

One of the biggest and most influential US business lobby groups in America and a top American lawmaker on trade have urged the Biden administration to fast-track the Trump-era trade talks with Kenya, piling pressure on Washington to conclude the negotiations. They also want Washington to dialogue with Nairobi on the basis of the original or initial proposed model of a free trade agreement with Kenya, which was initiated by Biden's predecessor Donald Trump. They say such a trade deal has many benefits for the US but also Kenya and will...

The East African Community (EAC) wants the US government to make the rules governing access to their market more flexible under the planned renewal of the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). The regional bloc, during its Council of Ministers Ordinary meeting held in February, made four new proposals to the Joe Biden administration to expand Agoa and make it more effective should the US Congress hasten its renewal before the 2025 expiry date. The proposals come in the wake of plans by the American Chamber of Commerce Kenya (AmCham), a...

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised Ethiopia on Wednesday for its progress in implementing a peace deal to end the Tigray conflict, but stopped short of ushering the country back into a U.S. trade programme. Visiting Ethiopia to repair relations that were strained by the two-year war in the northern region, Blinken met with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and discussed ongoing efforts to solidify peace, restore basic services and address humanitarian needs. The Ethiopian government and forces from Tigray signed a ceasefire in...

Ethiopia is asking the Joe Biden administration to reinstate its duty-free access to the US market, arguing that “exceptional circumstances” warrant an immediate re-examination of its suspension just as Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Addis Ababa to discuss the cessation of hostilities in Tigray. The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) terminated Ethiopia’s participation in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) program effective 1 January 2022, accusing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government of “gross...

Women entrepreneurs are important sources of innovation, job creation, and economic growth, and critical actors in every aspect of the agriculture value chain.  The U.S. Embassy is pleased to partner with the American Chamber of Commerce in Madagascar (AmCham) to empower Malagasy women entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector to access U.S. markets.  More than half of AmCham Madagascar’s member companies operating in the food sector are led by women, but many of these companies do not take advantage of the lucrative U.S. market...

Kenyan manufacturers have asked the Trade ministry to request Washington to extend the existing duty- and quota-free access to the expansive US market window for another 15 years as the two countries prepare for talks over a long-term bilateral trade deal. The Kenya Association of Manufacturers, the sector lobby, argues that uncertainty over the more than two decades-Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) deal, which expires in two years, is costing the country billions of shillings in potential investments. “Kenya should seek an Agoa...

In the middle of an energy crisis and greylisting, SA could do without antagonising one of its biggest trade and investment partners. When SA welcomed the Russian warship Admiral Gorshkov — with the Kremlin’s pro-war symbol, the letter “Z”, on prominent display — it sparked a new diplomatic crisis with the US that could have profound economic consequences.    This past week the US Congress introduced a resolution to reconsider its relationship with SA. House Resolution 145 opposes SA’s hosting of military exercises...

Kenya and the United States have concluded the first round of Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) that will form a basis for future bilateral engagements. The Kenyan delegation, led by Trade Principal Secretary Alfred K’Ombudo, hope that the five-day talks on the free trade agreement will bear fruits. The government has been scouting for areas of collaboration that will increase foreign direct investment, promote sustainable and inclusive growth that will also support women and small and medium enterprise...

Pankaj Bedi strides through his factory on the edge of Nairobi, past clattering sewing machines, bustling workers and boxes of jeans. None of this would be here, he says, were it not for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The landmark trade policy was introduced by Bill Clinton in 2000, granting duty-free access for more than 6,000 products from sub-Saharan Africa. Two years later, Mr Bedi opened United Aryan, his clothing business in Kenya. He now employs 14,000 people. Lately Mr Bedi’s financiers have all been asking...

U.S. and Kenyan officials are meeting this week in Washington for the first negotiating round of the U.S.-Kenya Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP). Public Citizen submitted recommendations for the U.S.-Kenya negotiations to USTR as part of its public comment process last year. Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen, issued the following statement: “The U.S. and Kenyan governments should start with a transparent and participatory negotiation process to ensure that these...

Trade representatives from Kenya and the US are set to hold an in-person first round of conceptual discussions under the Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) in Washington, DC, from February 6th to 10th. The US delegation will be led by Assistant Trade Representative Connie Hamilton and will include representatives from several other government agencies, the Office of the US Trade Representative said in a press release. The two nations launched the Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) in July last year to replace...

The United States and Kenya will hold an in-person round of conceptual discussions under their Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP) in Washington, DC, from February 6-10, 2023.   The United States delegation will be led by Assistant United States Trade Representative Connie Hamilton, and will include representatives from several other government agencies. United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and then-Kenyan Cabinet Secretary Betty Maina launched the U.S.-Kenya STIPon July 14, 2022 and...

Economic integration efforts underway in Africa and new ideas about decades-old U.S. trade policy could provide a host of options for bolstering Washington’s cornerstone trade policy program with sub-Saharan African countries, analysts and former senior officials tell Inside U.S. Trade. The African Growth and Opportunity Act, first signed into law in 2000, “has done more than people give it credit for, but it has not done nearly enough that it could and should do,” former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Florizelle Liser said in an...

US treasury secretary Janet Yellen is in town this week. While news headlines have focused on the overlapping visits to the continent of Yellen, Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and China’s Qin Gang, Yellen’s comparative advantage is marked. She’s a pre-eminent economist — the first to have led the Federal Reserve, the White House council of economic advisers and the treasury — and she’s here to leverage that experience to build US-Africa relations. Fellow columnist John Dludlu recently suggested Washington’s overtures to Africa are...

The US is seeking to deepen its economic integration with South Africa in pursuit of policies to diversify global supply chains, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. Closer ties with nations that share the US’s economic values will help promote so-called friendshoring, in which allies cooperate on manufacturing and sourcing raw materials, Yellen said at a meeting with South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Thursday.  Her remarks come in a week in which South Africa defended its neutral stance in Russia’s...

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) intends to issue an order imposing anti-dumping duties on lemon juice imported from South Africa and Brazil. The agency advises the US government on trade matters and intends to release a report based on its investigation by early March this year. The USITC announced on Monday that it had completed an investigation, which indicated that lemon juice imports from SA and Brazil either are materially injuring the US market or pose a threat of doing so, due to being sold at less-than-fair...

African countries may need more trade privileges with the US even as Washington reviews the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) meant to expand what the continent will export. At the end of the US-Africa summit in December, Washington pledged to renew Agoa, bringing clarity to uncertainties that had befell exporters from countries such as Kenya. But now experts say the narrow view of Agoa should be expanded to allow them to export more goods and hence benefit more countries that are able to make a diversified list of goods. “Agoa...

The second edition of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit (ALS) took place in Washington last week. Much has changed since former president Barack Obama held the inaugural summit in 2014, halfway through his second term. At that time, the geopolitical environment for strengthening ties was less fraught: global economic integration was accelerating, and Africa was “rising” from sluggish growth and persistent poverty. The initial summit was framed as an important first step in engaging with a “a new, more prosperous Africa,” as Obama put...

(1) In Proclamation 7853 of December 10, 2004, the President designated Burkina Faso as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country for purposes of section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the “Trade Act”), as added by section 111(a) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (the “AGOA”) (title I of Public Law 106-200, 114 Stat. 251, 257-58 (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(1))). (2) Section 506A(a)(3) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(3)) provides that the President shall terminate the designation of a country as a beneficiary...

The Trade and Industry Minister, Alan Kyerematen, has advocated for intensive investment in the agricultural sector as part of major plans to economically empower the African continent. The Minister made this pronouncement during the recent summit of US- African leaders in Washington DC. The US-Africa Leaders’ Summit was anchored on the shared values of fostering new economic engagement; reinforcing the US-Africa commitment to democracy and human rights; mitigating the impact of Covid-19 and future pandemics. It also focused on working...