Africa and The Middle East

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai plans to convene a “U.S.-Africa trade ministerial” before the end of 2021 with an eye on discussing how to “build” on the African Growth and Opportunity Act, she said Tuesday. In pre-recorded remarks delivered during the U.S.-Africa Business Summit, a virtual event hosted by the Corporate Council on Africa, Tai said the ministerial would provide an opportunity to “discuss how we can build on the successes” of AGOA, and stressed a shared goal of attracting...

U.S. support of the African Continental Free Trade Area is critical to transforming the continent’s economy and its countries’ relationship with trading partners, Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo said on Wednesday. During an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce , Akufo-Addo called on Africa and its trading partners to abandon old models and “establish a sustainable, strategic partnership based on trade and investment cooperation.” Africa’s “economic relationship with the developed economies of the world,” he said, has long been...

World Trade Organization members agreed this week to move ahead with text-based talks on proposals aimed at improving the international pandemic response – both a waiver of some intellectual property obligations and an alternative from the European Union – with the U.S. calling for the final product to focus directly on access to vaccines. The move to text-based talks comes after a push from Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for members to do so and, perhaps more importantly, after the Biden administration...

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Tuesday applauded U.S. lawmakers calling for the U.S. to focus on growing trade and investment ties with African countries. Okonjo-Iweala joined former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, among others, for a roundtable event hosted by the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday in honor of Africa Day, which commemorates the founding of the Organisation of African Unity. During the event, Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa,...

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta remains hopeful that a “free trade arrangement” between the U.S. and Kenya can be struck to help spur broader U.S.-Africa ties, he said on Tuesday. His comments followed remarks made last week by U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who told House lawmakers her office was “exploring the potential to build a new trade model and structure” via negotiations between the U.S. and Kenya, on hold as the Biden administration assesses the trade policies of its predecessor...

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday in the secretary’s first virtual visit to Africa, as the two countries continue to review talks about a bilateral trade agreement that began during the Trump administration, acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Robert Godec said on Wednesday. Godec described Blinken’s discussion with Kenyatta as “excellent” and said the U.S. welcomes “Kenya’s political and economic success and growing prosperity.” He spoke during a webinar hosted...

The U.S. can mitigate its reliance on China’s agriculture purchases by tapping into markets in Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told lawmakers on Wednesday. Vilsack testified before the House Appropriations agriculture subcommittee on “the year ahead” for the Agriculture Department as the committee works on USDA’s fiscal year 2022 budget. President Biden last week released an outline of his administration’s budget proposal, which includes $27.8 billion for USDA, a $3.8 billion increase from 2021...