Africa and The Middle East

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), as secretary of State, could be instrumental in helping the Congress and the Trump administration reauthorize key trade-preference programs, former House Ways & Means trade subcommittee ranking member Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) tells Inside U.S. Trade . Blumenauer, retired from Congress at the end of 2024, had represented Portland since 1996. He chaired the Ways & Means trade panel in 2019 after Democrats took control of the House and was...

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Mike Crapo (R-ID) believes there’s a chance under the next administration to break a years-long impasse and renew the Generalized System of Preference in 2025 despite resistance from “a lot of different angles.” Crapo, who is set to chair the Finance panel next year, made an unsuccessful push to include renewal of GSP, which lapsed at the end of 2020, in a spending bill unveiled on Tuesday, Inside U.S. Trade reported earlier this week...

Lawmakers have agreed to new restrictions on outbound investment and to renew U.S. trade preferences to Haiti as part of a short-term government funding bill while abandoning a push to renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act. Congressional leaders released the more than 1,500-page bill , which will fund the government through mid-March, following days of haggling. It includes a much-anticipated bill to restrict outbound investment in key Chinese technologies. The “Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security Act” or COINS Act,...

The chair of the House Foreign Affairs Africa subcommittee has introduced a bill to reauthorize the African Growth and Opportunity Act until 2037, with changes to eligibility criteria and other aspects. “AGOA is the anchor of the U.S.-Africa economic relationship, and this reauthorization bill will ensure that our African partners maximize their utilization from their eligibility,” Rep. John James (R-MI) said in a statement on the bill, called the “ AGOA Extension and Enhancement Act of 2024 .” “Additionally, this...

A major U.S.-Africa business group is pressing U.S. lawmakers to secure the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act before they leave Washington this month -- and to forgo making updates to the more than two-decade-old program if they pose an obstacle, the group’s chief executive tells Inside U.S. Trade . Florizelle Liser, president and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa and a former assistant U.S. Trade Representative, said in an interview on Monday that CCA was pressing...

The Biden administration is “working closely” with Congress in its final weeks to reauthorize the U.S. Development Finance Corporation, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, advocating for agency reforms including more investment authority and a broader range of countries it can operate in with the goal of displacing more U.S. “competitors.” During the DFC’s 5th Anniversary Conference , Blinken praised the work of the agency, citing in particular its investment in the Lobito Corridor, a railway project aimed...

The Federal Maritime Commission has opened an investigation into reports that Spain has denied ships sailing from the U.S. entry to its ports in a way that hinders trade and could violate U.S. shipping law. In a Federal Register notice published on Friday, the commission said it had been informed on Nov. 19 that Spain “had denied entry to its ports to at least three vessels, including some that are participants in the United States Maritime Administration's (MARAD) Maritime Security...

U.S. investments in an economic corridor in western Africa – particularly its rail infrastructure – are “transformative” and will improve access to global markets for the countries involved, allow the region to take advantage of critical minerals supply chains and raise standards in areas like labor and the environment, the Biden administration said this week during President Biden’s visit to Africa. Biden on Wednesday attended the Lobito Trans-Africa Corridor Summit in Angola, which also included the leaders of Angola, the...