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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.,...

What if Donald Trump really wins the US election? What will this mean for Ghana, and Africa as a whole? While we have a pretty fair idea of what this will mean to the USA, it's hard to say what that means here. Because Trump has not really spoken of this continent – and definitely not Ghana. But, as lecturer in communications at the University of Ghana, Dr Etse Sikanku told Pulse Ghana earlier in the year, there will be a direct impact on this part of the world once the US chooses its new leader. Whoever wins will be responsible for...

The Nigerian textile industry is grappling with enormous challenges and these has literally ground the sector to a halt. In this piece, CHIKA MEFOR writes on the need to provide a lifeline for this all important sector. Nigeria’s modern textile industry which started in 1956 with the establishment of the Kaduna Textile Mills Limited had about 63 per cent of the textile manufacturing capacity in West Africa. The industry has passed through various phases of growth and until the 1980s; it was one of the most vibrant in the world. At its...