US legislators seek to codify the Prosper Africa Act
In January 2022, representatives McCaul (R-TX) and Murphy (D-FL) put forward the Prosper Africa Act (H.R.6455) to codify the existing Prosper Africa initiative into law.
This program strives to increase investment and trade cooperation among the United States and African nations. Since 2019, the initiative enabled almost 800 deals worth $50 billion.
The codification of Prosper Africa will benefit the program by making its compliance legally binding and ensuring that it receives support over the next seven years. If its goals come to fruition, African economic opportunities will increase providing more resources to combat poverty in the region.
The Prosper Africa Initiative
In 2018, the Trump administration unveiled the Prosper Africa initiative, framing it as an alternative to China’s African infrastructure investment program. The administration touted the cooperation of federal agencies in connecting American and African business interests to generate mutual economic growth.
The initiative aims to spur development in African nations’ business sectors, middle class and infrastructure. One of Prosper Africa’s overarching objectives is to evolve U.S. and African relations from an aid-oriented one to one focused on trade. This will play an important role in long-term poverty alleviation in Africa as partnered countries in the region will have more economic resources to address it.
In 2021, the Biden administration adopted and reimagined the program with an increased focus on green energy, transportation investment and gender-equitable development. The Prosper Africa initiative currently offers various forms of direct support to African businesses looking to export to the United States. This includes support through grants, technical assistance and business partner matching.
Burt’s Bees and Simpliphi Power
Burt’s Bees and SimpliPhi Power are among the American businesses that found partnerships in Africa through the Prosper Africa Initiative. Burt’s Bees is a personal care company that is now co-investing in a pilot beekeeping project with Ghanaian shea farmers. The care brand expects to bring in $1 million worth of beeswax and shea imports through this project over the next couple of years.
SimpliPhi Power, an energy storage system company, partnered with Renewable Energy Innovators Cameroon to conduct a feasibility study on the possibility of connecting thousands of homes in Cameroon to solar-powered mini-grids. This could open new opportunities for American businesses to assist in energy infrastructure projects in the region. Both of these cooperative projects illustrate the mutually beneficial opportunities the initiative offers.
About The Prosper Africa Act
The Prosper Africa Act seeks to codify these cooperative efforts into law. The bill mainly focuses on outlining the initiative’s objectives and supporting staff requirements. The objectives that this piece of legislation describes do not differ greatly from what the initiative already strives for.
Despite this, codification still benefits Prosper Africa in a couple of ways. First, putting the initiative into law can promote compliance with its objectives. As it stands now, the initiative’s goals and priorities are under the discretion of the president.
Under the bill, the president and other offices would have a legal obligation to comply with Prosper Africa’s core objectives. This ensures efforts remain focused on the facilitation of trade regardless of changes in presidential policy. The act will require the president to make a government-wide Prosper Africa strategy plan publicly available detailing how the U.S. will fulfill the initiative’s objectives.
The president must also provide regular progress reports on the program to Congress for evaluation. Another way Prosper Africa will benefit from codification is through stability. The act will mandate the support of Prosper Africa by the executive for seven years. During this time, dedicated personnel will manage its operations and ensure the program is facilitating trade between U.S.-based businesses and African nations.
The Prosper Africa Act seeks to strengthen the trade capabilities of African nations by facilitating connections with U.S. businesses. This bipartisan bill will ensure continued support for the program’s objectives and, if successful, will generate economic opportunities for both the United States and partnered African nations.
This growth will play an important role in addressing poverty in the region over the long term through sustained development.
Download the bill at this link.
View related news articles
Fact sheet: US- Africa partnership in promoting two-way trade and investment in Africa
Africa’s integration into global markets, demographic boom, and continent-wide spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation present an extraordinary opportunity for the United States to invest in Africa’s future. The United States will support and facilitate mobilizing private capital to fuel economic growth, job creation, and greater U.S. participation in Africa’s future. Together, business and government leaders will...
14 December 2022
Bipartisan lawmakers in Congress are calling for the renewal of AGOA
As President Joe Biden hosts nearly 50 African leaders in a summit aiming to boost U.S.-Africa relations, one prominent issue has circulated across the Hill: the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which is set to expire in 2025. What is it? The 22-year-old program works to provide eligible sub-Saharan African nations with additional duty-free access to more than 1,800 designated products, with the aim of...
13 December 2022
The 'three issues that will make or break the Prosper Africa initiative'
The U.S. government’s Prosper Africa program, launched in 2019, aims to double two-way trade and investment between the United States and African countries and, in doing so, to put a new face on American foreign policy in Africa. Despite the initiative’s embrace by two separate administrations, it has so far been slow to live up to expectations. The Prosper Africa Act, a draft piece of bipartisan legislation put forward in the U.S. House...
18 May 2022
US Senator requests return of Ethiopia to AGOA
A U.S senator has requested the senate to return Ethiopia to AGOA as it has been progressing in many aspects. U.S. Senator from Virginia Mark Warner said the U.S. should strengthen and improve the trade relationship between Africa specifically Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government has been pending progress in many aspects, especially the ceasefire. The trade relation between Africa specifically with Ethiopia is important. “We do that...
05 April 2022
Sen. Toomey: Administration’s failure to move FTAs forward comes at huge cost to US
During today’s Senate Finance Committee Hearing with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) questioned the Biden Administration’s inaction on free trade agreements (FTAs) and the implication that FTAs are not a tool for the 21stcentury. On the importance of free trade agreements: “Every single presidential administration since Reagan has initiated negotiations on a new [free trade agreement]. They’ve done...
31 March 2022
US seeks more investment opportunities in Africa
The US government is exploring ways to expand trade and investment opportunities in Africa, in a bid to scramble for the control of the continent’s raw materials with other world’s powerful nations such as China and Russia. The US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Akunna Cook said the country has yet to deepen its presence in Africa, which has a population of about 1.3 billion people. “We have been behind the curve for...
25 February 2022
US Congress: Representatives McCaul, Murphy introduce Prosper Africa Act
House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) introduced the Prosper Africa Act to codify interagency efforts and promote, facilitate and increase two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa. “Advancing two-way trade and investment between the U.S. and African partners must be a key foreign policy priority,” said Rep....
21 January 2022
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman asks US trade commission to investigate impact of AGOA program
Today, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) sent a letter to U.S. International Trade Commission (Commission) Chairman Jason E. Kearns requesting that the Commission initiate a fact-finding investigation on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade program that fosters economic development in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Chairman Neal’s request reflects deep interest among members of the...
19 January 2022
Senator Van Hollen, Representative Bass urge Biden Administration to reconsider Ethiopia's suspension from AGOA
Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-Calif.) urged President Biden to reconsider his Administration’s November 2, 2021 decision to terminate Ethiopia’s designation as a beneficiary country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) at the end of this year. As the lawmakers note in their letter (download a copy at the link alongside), this decision will hurt the nation’s most vulnerable...
23 December 2021
Trade Subcommittee hearing on strengthening the US-Africa trade and investment relationship
(As prepared for delivery) Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2021 - 11:00am Chairman Blumenauer opening statement: Today’s hearing is the next step in this Committee’s ongoing work on the U.S. – Africa trade and investment relationship. We met with the President of Kenya as well as Kenya’s Ambassador to the United States to discuss trade matters. And, recently, we led congressional engagement with African trade...
17 November 2021