USTR Tai to host AGOA ministerial meeting during December Africa leaders summit
United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai today announced she will host a meeting of sub-Saharan African trade ministers and senior officials on December 13, 2022.
The ministerial meeting will occur during the week of the United States-Africa Leaders’ Summit that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced last week.
The meeting will discuss expanding trade and investment relations and implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
“The 2022 Africa Growth and Opportunity Act Ministerial Meeting will be a valuable opportunity to re-affirm the United States’ engagement with the continent,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai. “I look forward to welcoming my fellow trade ministers to Washington, D.C. this December for productive and thoughtful discussions on the future of this important relationship.”
The meeting will also provide a critical platform for discussing ways to strengthen economic cooperation between the United States and sub-Saharan Africa. USTR intends to share perspectives on key issues impacting U.S.–African trade as well as other multilateral trade issues.
Following the December 13th Ministerial, the next meeting of the annual United States-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum (AGOA Forum) will be held in South Africa in 2023.
BACKGROUND
Since it was signed into law in May 2000, AGOA has served as the cornerstone of the U.S. economic engagement with sub-Saharan Africa. It has helped drive investment on the continent, created hundreds of thousands of jobs, promoted regional integration and enhanced Africa’s export competitiveness. The program also has provided incentives to African governments to undertake key political and economic reforms.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, total two-way goods trade with sub-Saharan Africa totalled $44.9 billion in 2021 (most recent data available), a 22 percent increase from $36.8 billion in 2019.
U.S. outward foreign direct investment (FDI) stock in sub-Saharan Africa stood at $30.31 billion in 2021 (most recent data available), a 5.3 percent decrease from 2019.
###
Read related news articles
Kenya's president meets US delegates on trade and investments
Kenyan President William Ruto has today held talks with US Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai. The discussions were based on US trade policy. Ruto said that the country is ready to strengthen the already existing relations between the two nations. "We will stretch our ties beyond the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in the wake of advanced technology and climate change, for the full exploitation of our trade potential,"...
19 July 2023
US AGOA and private sector collaboration as backbone for strengthening relations with Africa
With over 1300 delegates at the US-African Business Summit held mid-July in Gaborone, Botswana, the main focus was on mapping out strategies to strengthen trade and economic relations between the United States and Africa. Majority of the speakers emphasized reviewing and widening collaboration between governments, while others underlined the importance of the private sector as the key driver in achieving robust economic growth in...
17 July 2023
AGOA time: As 2025 approaches, opportunities for improvements eyed
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...
30 January 2023
Key to Africa’s growth is within the continent
The outcome of the US-Africa Leaders Summit once again shows why the continent is better off looking inwards for solutions. As the dust settles, the deals unveiled at the summit are coming under closer scrutiny. The $15 billion and the headline commitment by President Joe Biden to inject $55 billion into the continent over a three-year period have particularly attracted animated debate. On social media platforms, many commentators suggested...
17 December 2022
'Poor relatives always show up, rich ones don't', Biden says as he plans Africa trip
U.S. President Joe Biden capped a summit of 50 African leaders by stressing his administration's deep commitment to Africa, urging the continent's leaders to respect the will of their people, and saying he may come visit. The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit concluded Thursday with bonhomie, $55 billion (Sh6.8 trillion) in U.S. commitments, and this from Biden: "As I told some of you — you invited me to your countries," he said. "I said, "Be...
16 December 2022
White House Statement on US-Africa Leaders Summit: Strengthening partnerships to meet shared priorities
The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, from December 13-15 in Washington DC, highlighted the U.S. commitment to expanding and deepening our partnership with African countries, institutions, and people. Our world is quickly changing, and U.S. engagement in Africa must evolve accordingly. African leadership and contributions are essential to addressing today’s pressing challenges and achieving shared priorities. The Biden-Harris...
14 December 2022
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
US trade chief Tai says African trade program needs to foster more investment
The duty-free access for nearly 40 African countries in a 22-year-old U.S. trade program is no longer enough to boost their development and a focus on improving investment is needed, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said on Tuesday. Tai, after a meeting with African counterparts at the start of a Sub-Saharan African leaders summit in Washington, said the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) needs improving to foster more equitable...
12 December 2022
Enhancing relationships a top priority as US-Africa summit begins next week
For only the second time in eight years, leaders from the United States and Africa will meet next week in the nation’s capital to discuss economic matters and other topics. President Joe Biden is expected to host roughly more than 50 African heads of state from Dec. 13 through Dec. 15 in Washington, D.C., at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in 2022. The fresh effort is aimed to “demonstrate the United States’...
07 December 2022
Leaders Summit 2022: US strikes a conciliatory tone
8 years after former US President Obama had African leaders come over to the US capital, President Biden, then Vice President of the US, has replicated the gesture of his former principal. This week more than 40 African heads of state were in Washington D.C for the second US-Africa Leaders Summit. Leader-to-leader meetings were expected but not announced in the lead-up to the summit. Ultimately, Biden failed to hold any talks directly...
06 December 2022
7 December digital press briefing on the US-Africa Business Forum agenda
MEDIA ADVISORY | December 7 Digital Press Briefing on U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit with U.S. Department of State Bureau of African Affairs Assistant Secretary of State, Molly Phee, and National Security Council Senior Director for African Affairs, Judd Devermont. EVENT: Please join us on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, for a digital press briefing with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs...
05 December 2022
