AFRICA, US TRADE PACT Agoa forum has not addressed structural issues

• Published date: 05 November 2023
• Publication title: Sunday Tribune

This week, the US and 35 sub- Saharan African countries met in Johannesburg for the 20th Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum (Agoa Forum). It entails strengthening trade and investment ties between the US and sub-Saharan Africa through the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), US legislation which provides various trade preferences to eligible countries in the region

Of the 54 countries in Africa, 35 are trading under the programme which was renewed in 2015 and is set to expire on September 30, 2025. The US renews the eligibility of each country every year.

South Africa was the largest exporter in the agreement in 2021 and generated about $2.7 billion in revenue, mostly from the sale of vehicles, jewellery, citrus, nuts, autos, and metals.

Countries such as Eswatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi and Mauritius have also massively increased their exports to the US under Agoa.

The Agoa forum met during a time of Middle East conflict and a war between Israelis and Palestinians as well as the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Last week the US Congress passed a $105bn defence and economic packages to Ukraine and Israel. In this context, Agoa concessions will likely be relegated to an after-thought. However, when an empirical analysis of conducted on trade and development between US/EU an Africa, a more concerning reality emerges, we witness the same old neo-colonial uneven paradigm.

Let’s unpack the “Big Five” issues that are constraining African development pathways.

1. Contradictory human rights

Trade and investment are not politically neutral and developing nations face the volatility of global geopolitics that has seen further instabilities. The increasing use of human rights in trade becomes ever more contradictory and untenable, fuelling cynicism by the Global South. For instance, Ethiopia was kicked out of Agoa last year because of the war in Tigray and lost its Agoa beneficiary status in January last year, yet Eswatini which has the most draconian authoritarian regime in southern Africa benefits immensely from access, and Morocco – which occupies Western Sahara are beneficiaries to major US and EU trade programmes.

In this context, when Niger and Gabon following military coups and the Central African Republic (CAR), are excluded, it is thus seen as contradictory and sends different messages on the broader human rights-trade-investment model of Agoa.

2. Dumping of goods

The amount of chicken the US is allowed to dump in South Africa has increased once...