Africa and The Middle East

House Ways & Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-MA) is calling on the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate the impacts of the African Growth and Opportunity Act as lawmakers consider the program’s future. AGOA, the U.S.’ two-decade-old preferential trade program with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, is set to expire in 2025. In a Jan. 19 letter to ITC Chair Jason Kearns, Neal asks the commission to “conduct an investigation and provide a report on the AGOA program in general...

President Biden on Thursday terminated Ethiopia’s eligibility for benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act despite pleas from lawmakers to give the war-torn country more time to comply with AGOA criteria. The proclamation also terminates Guinea and Mali as AGOA beneficiaries, effective Jan. 1. Biden said the three countries do not meet AGOA criteria, as set out in section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974. Those criteria include the rule of law, labor and human rights standards. Guinea...

African countries are working to develop a digital trade protocol that would attract U.S. tech investment across the continent -- an arrangement that could spur collaboration and trade without requiring a “legal instrument” between the U.S. and the burgeoning African Continental Free Trade Area, Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat Wamkele Mene tells Inside U.S. Trade. “I believe digital trade is an opportunity for Africa,” Mene said this week in an interview in Washington. “It's an opportunity for Africa...

The African continent is seeking “mutually respectful partnership” with countries around the world as it makes strides toward economic integration, African Continental Free Trade Area Secretary General Wamkele Mene said on Tuesday during a visit to Washington. Mene’s agenda included a meeting on Monday with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, among others. The trip was his first official visit outside of the African Union since taking office -- a fact that “speaks to the commitment and the seriousness with which...

The U.S. must set out a “clearer strategy” for its trade policy in Africa, former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa Florie Liser told House lawmakers on Wednesday, testifying during a hearing where she and other former senior officials called for heightened efforts to engage on the continent. If not, they said, the U.S. could be left behind as African countries build stronger ties with China and others. “While the U.S. has several options to consider, companies and African countries...

India and South Africa this week re-upped their concerns about the World Trade Organization moratorium on imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions, a signal that the push to extend the moratorium at the upcoming 12th ministerial conference is not yet settled. Many WTO members support the moratorium and an extension. Some, including the U.S., want to see it made permanent. But a handful of developing countries, like India and South Africa, are concerned it does more harm than good for...

Ethiopia, Guinea and Mali will lose their benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act on Jan. 1 unless the countries take “urgent action” beforehand, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced on Tuesday, citing human rights violations in Ethiopia and “unconstitutional” government changes in Mali and Guinea. Despite “intensive” engagement between U.S. officials and Ethiopian, Guinean and Malian officials, the three governments have “failed to address” U.S. concerns about violations of AGOA eligibility criteria, President Biden said in a statement...