The African Growth and Opportunity Act annual conference concluded in South Africa on Saturday. Since 2000, the programme has allowed qualifying sub-Saharan African nations duty-free access to the U.S. market.
Under AGOA, the value of all items imported into the US decreased from $6.8 billion in 2021 to around $10 billion in 2022. Before the trade policy ends in2025, African officials are requesting that the United States Congress extend it for a minimum of an additional ten years.
In order to qualify for AGOA, countries need to uphold human rights and the rule of law. Four nations will be removed from the AGOA, according to U.S. President Joe Biden’s announcement on Monday. These nations are Uganda and the Central African Republic for violating human rights, and Niger and Gabon for coup d’états.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with a number of reporters on Saturday to address inquiries regarding the future of AGOA. The transcript that follows has been condensed and made clearer:
VOA: China is Africa’s biggest trading partner; what are the ways in which the United States and China approach trade with Africa different from one another?
Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative: Let me begin by outlining the fundamental tenet of our relationship: first and foremost, the U.S. engagement with the African nations is beneficial to us personally. We have so many commonalities in our shared cultural and historical narrative, including our historical connections, people-to-people relationships, and the reality that the United States originated from our own colonial past. That is the basis of our collaboration.
After that, we examine Africa’s demographics. One in four people on the earth will be African by the year 2050. Upon comparing the median age of the African population with those of other regions, one comes to the conclusion that Africa is the continent of the future. Another reason we know that collaborating with Africa is essential to determining our own course for the future is because of the continent’s potential, both human and economic. That being said, this explains our presence here.
Let me address your question about China separately. Indeed, China has a huge trading footprint in the world economy. We are aware of this, and it comes up in a lot of our international discussions. We are focused on strengthening and expanding a U.S. connection with Africa because we firmly believe that the kind of partnership the United States brings and can deliver is fundamentally different from what other partners bring.
Tai answered inquiries from other reporters about US relations with African nations.
Q: I was told yesterday by an African official that “We do not want Western democracy imposed on Africa.” How are you handling this?
Tai. It goes without saying that everyone of us has our own unique interpretation of democracy. However, in general, I believe that when we discuss democracy, we’re talking about a form of governance in which the people have the authority and right to choose their own representatives. In my opinion, AGOA is designed to assist African solutions to the political and economic reforms that it is intended to promote, not to impose a particular type of democracy.
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In light of South Africa’s position on the Ukraine issue, how are ties between the United States and that country going?
Tai. Now keep in mind that I am a member of the economic policy team since I am the U.S. Trade Representative. I’ll now concentrate on the economic ties between the United States and South Africa. Let’s face it: the world in which we live is incredibly complex and only becoming more so. Having said that, I believe that the partnerships in general and those that are more personal are solid on the business front, which is where my expertise is.
We all need to learn how to navigate this complicated environment, and I am very certain that we will succeed in doing so—at least in terms of the economy—having successfully navigated some rough seas this year. I believe that the South African administration has demonstrated how strongly it supports the economic ties with the United States throughout this tour and at this summit.
It’s a difficult problem because Africa wants to grow, but we won’t acquire the necessary skills as long as we export raw commodities outside of the continent. How do you feel?
Tai. I take it that you are discussing how Africa and its nations industrialise and progress up the value chain? And I believe that economic development faces this difficulty. After going through a phase of deindustrialization, the United States is currently engaged on a reindustrialization effort, which has provided for a period of really intriguing debates while I’ve been here.
That is, in my opinion, a really crucial question that each of us must answer. My gut tells me that as globalisation changes—as we can see, it must—that the following version of globalisation will be more successful than the previous one. The next one needs to be a development programme that examines how advanced economies and emerging economies may collaborate more successfully to offer a win-win development solution.
And I believe that the fundamental idea will be that, if you adopt President Biden’s perspective, which is that we’re attempting to revitalise and rebuild our middle classes, how can trade policy enable us to support one another in doing the same?
How can we go about it without setting our workers against your workers, or our middle class against your middle class? How might we consider commerce less as a brutal competition and more as a complimentary activity? .. I consider myself really fortunate to have had the opportunity to collaborate with our African partners on finding a solution to that issue.
Q: We’ve heard that Congressmen, particularly those who identify as Republicans, want to examine eligibility enforcement because some of them have expressed dissatisfaction with the administration’s handling of enforcement. So, how would you respond to that?
Tai: The specific individuals they wish to suspend from AGOA are unknown to me, but there is an annual review procedure that is rather stringent and requires careful consideration. The decisions made during this process are not simple.
