Africa wants one trade deal with the US, the US wants many
The US and Africa have different views on their future trade relationship when a preferential access deal expires in 2025.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy said in an interview Sunday his country favours bilateral trade agreements with African nations. A day later, African Union Trade and Industry Commissioner Albert Muchanga said the African Union (AU) favours a free-trade agreement with the US to replace the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).
“To replace Agoa, we would like to see an agreement between the whole of Africa and the US,” Muchanga said in an interview at the forum in Abidjan, the commercial capital of Côte d'Ivoire. Africa should negotiate with “one voice” for a new trade pact after 2025, he said.
- AU prefers a continent-wide deal with U.S. when AGOA expires
- AU, U.S. say they share common goal of boosting Africa trade
The US and AU signed a joint statement on Monday at the Agoa Forum in Abidjan, saying they share a goal to enhance the AU’s effort to increase continental trade and investment under the African Continental Free Trade Area. The continent-wide trade agreement, that’s being driven by the AU, aims to create the world’s largest free-trade zone. It officially came into force in May and should be fully in operation by 2030.
The Agoa accord provides 39 sub-Saharan African countries duty-free access to the US for about 6 500 products, ranging from textiles to manufactured items. The act was first signed into law by former President Bill Clinton in 2000 and extended for ten years by former President Barack Obama in 2015. Nagy has said previously the US intends to replace it.
The US currently only has one free-trade agreement on the African continent – with Morocco – and is pursuing a trade deal with an unidentified country in sub-Saharan Africa. Nagy said that would be used as a model for others when Agoa expires.
The Agoa preference scheme is underutilized and that’s why it’s going to be very difficult to renew it in 2025, Muchanga said. The new continent-wide free-trade agreement will help businesses gain experience to supply to a bigger market and export more goods to the rest of the world, he said.
The value of trade between the US and sub-Saharan Africa was $41.2-billion last year, making the US the region’s third-largest trading partner. Trade with China was worth 3.5 times more.
“African economies are small and fragmented,” Muchanga said. “Bilateral agreements reinforce fragmentation of those markets.”
Read related news articles
South Africa’s AGOA forum: Crafting future pathways for US-Africa trade partnership
Ultimately the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) could be extended by 16 years, that means until 2041, indicating its importance for strengthening Africa’s trade and economic cooperation with United States. That was, in fact, the main focus during Johannesburg’s early November forum that brought together more than 30 trade ministers, astute investors plus representatives from the regional economic blocs and the African Union. At...
14 November 2023
Africa-US trade: AGOA expires in 2025 - what has it achieved in 23 years?
African governments are seeking an extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) beyond 2025. The law was enacted in 2000 to “encourage increased trade and investment between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa”. We asked David Luke, who specialises in African trade policy and trade negotiations, what benefits Agoa has brought for qualifying African countries and how it can...
12 November 2023
US Senator Chris Coons proposes AGOA extension by 16 years, immediate review of SA’s AGOA eligibility
Powerful US Democratic Party Senator Chris Coons is circulating a discussion draft of a Bill to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) for 16 years that would also require an immediate “out-of-cycle” review of South Africa’s eligibility for Agoa. That could lead to South Africa being removed next year from the programme, which has provided considerable benefits to SA exporters to the US of cars, fruits and wine, in...
07 November 2023
AGOA extension crucial for Ghana’s industrialisation
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Nana Ama Dokua Asiamah-Adjei is supporting the push for the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to enhance trade between Ghana and the US. A United States Trade Act enacted on 18 May 2000 as Public Law 106 of the 200th Congress, the AGOA legislation has been renewed on different occasions, most recently in 2015, when its period of validity was extended to September 2025. The...
06 November 2023
US-Africa program (AGOA) should be extended through 2041, Senate Democrat says, proposes legislation [Download]
A trade program that grants exports from qualifying African countries duty-free access to the U.S. market should be extended by 16 years, said Democratic Senator Chris Coons, a leading voice on U.S.-Africa policy. Talks are underway for the renewal of the two-decade-old African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is due to expire in 2025. African countries want a 10-year renewal of the pact ahead of the 2024 U.S. election. President Joe...
06 November 2023
AGOA: US vows to support regional integration
The United States says it is committed to supporting regional integration in Africa, seeing it as essential for the continent's economic development and prosperity. At a conference on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) in Johannesburg, US officials said they were backing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), even though there will be variations on country specific trading arrangements. Agoa is a trade agreement...
04 November 2023
US committed to ‘seamless’ AGOA renewal, USTR Tai says
The US aims to ensure that its preferential trade pact with Africa is replaced without interruption when it expires in two-year’s time, while bringing it up to date. “We want to make sure that as of Sept. 30, 2025, that there will be another Agoa that will pick up from this one,” said US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, referring to the African Growth and Opportunity Act. “It is a seamless renewal that we’re...
03 November 2023
US president Biden wants to improve US-Africa trade programme, not just renew it - Blinken
President Joe Biden's administration wants to work with Congress to improve the United States' flagship trade programme with Africa, not just renew it without changes, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday. First launched in 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) grants exports from qualifying African countries duty-free access to the United States - the world's largest consumer market. It is due to...
03 November 2023
US faces tricky questions with African trade group
As the United States seeks to deepen its relationships with African nations and counter the influence of rivals like Russia and China, it confronts a tricky question: How does it respond when countries do things that run afoul of Washington’s stated commitment to democracy and human rights? That tension hung over a major trade conference between the U.S. and African countries that started in Johannesburg this week, after President Biden...
03 November 2023
AGOA needs at least 10-year extension, AU, ministers, say
Africa wants the US Congress to renew its flagship trade programme for the continent for at least 10 years, the African Union’s top trade official said on Thursday, adding that any modifications to the initiative should only be considered later. Speaking at the start of three days of meetings of African trade ministers and US officials, AU Trade Commissioner Albert Muchanga also said the United States will not be granted tariff...
02 November 2023
Africa pushes for three-year AGOA reviews
African trade ministers, including South Africa’s, are pushing for the annual eligibility reviews of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) to be conducted every three years instead of annually to allow for predictability and certainty for investors. This is after four beneficiary countries, Uganda, Niger, the Central African Republic and Gabon, were kicked out of the trade programme on the eve of the forum’s annual summit in...
02 November 2023
