US President Joe Biden has informed Congress of his intention to terminate the beneficiary designations of four African countries from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Biden will remove the Central African Republic, Niger, Republic of Gabon and Uganda as ‘beneficiary sub-Saharan countries’ to duty-free access to the United States.
The Act empowers the United States President to designate the eligibility of countries based on a number of criteria, including those making moves towards establishing market-based economies, the rule of law, and upholding human rights and that do not engage in activities that undermine US national security and foreign policy interests.
Biden says he’s determined that the four countries do not meet the eligibility requirements of the Act, stating in his letter to the leadership of the House of Representatives and the Senate that the CAR government had engaged in gross violations of internationally recognised human rights, and was not making progress towards establishing the protection of internationally recognised worker rights, the rule of law and political pluralism.
He raises similar issues in relation to Niger and Gabon which recently experienced unconstitutional changes in government.
Biden says Uganda engaged in gross violations of internationally recognised human rights after Washington previously raised concern about Uganda’s draconian Anti-homosexuality Act signed into law in May that calls for life imprisonment for anyone who engages in homosexual sex while decreeing the death penalty for anyone convicted of “aggravated homosexuality”.
Biden says that despite intensive engagement with the four countries, they had failed to address US concerns about their non-compliance with the AGOA eligibility criteria. As a result, their participation in the programme will cease on January 1st.
AGOA, launched in 2000, grants exports from qualifying sub-Saharan countries duty-free access to the US market. It’s due to expire in September 2025 but discussions around a potential 10-year extension are already underway between the White House and the US Congress.
South Africa was the continent’s largest beneficiary of AGOA in 2022, with exports from the country reaching $3.6 billion or R68 billion last year.
Source: SABC
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