African Growth and Opportunity Act Review Provides Opportunity to Push for Trade Access
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The African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) was created to incentivize two-way trade between the U.S. and sub-Saharan African countries. It allows the U.S. president to offer benefits, including duty-free access to the U.S. market, to nations meeting their AGOA commitments. But, as U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) Director of Export Services Jim Remcheck explains, some of the countries benefiting from AGOA have prohibitive restrictions on imports of U.S. beef and pork.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is seeking comments on ways to modernize AGOA. USMEF submitted comments outlining several concerns, including numerous trade obstacles for U.S. pork exports to South Africa. Nigeria is closed to all imports of U.S. fresh/frozen red meat, with only a narrow range of processed products eligible.
USMEF’s comments also highlighted tariff and non-barriers in Angola, Namibia and Kenya.
Remcheck says while AGOA has typically been used to advance changes in human rights, worker rights or political reforms, it could also be utilized to leverage market access for U.S. agricultural products.