AGOA - African Growth and Opportunity Act

EENI- School of International Business

Subject: The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) - The United States. Syllabus:

1. Introduction to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)
2. The AGOA Amendments
3. The AGOA V- Extension of third country fabric preferences to 2015
4. The AGOA- Country eligibility
5. The AGOA Product eligibility
6. General Rules of Origin (RoO)
7. Rules of origin for Wearing Apparel
8. Trade Agreements between the US and the African Countries
   1. Bilateral investment treaty
   2. Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFA)
9. The US' Trade with Sub-Saharan Africa
   1. Bilateral trade US-African Countries
   2. Top African export products (textiles, apparel manufacturing, coffee, and cashew)
   3. Exports by product sector
   4. Apparel trade under the AGOA. Trade quotas
10. Specialised projects
    1. The West Africa Trade Hub
    2. The Sub-Saharan African Suppliers to the United States
    3. The US' Direct Investment in Africa. Successes cases
11. The African global competitiveness initiative and Africa trade hubs
    1. The East and Central Africa Trade Hub
    2. The Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub
    3. Case Study: Handcrafts export growth in Ghana. The Senegalese exporters. The African Growers at Super Floral Show in Atlanta
12. Historical evolution of the foreign trade between the US and Africa under the AGOA

The objectives of the subject “The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)” are the following:

1. To understand the aims of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)
2. To evaluate the admission criteria by country and product eligibility
3. To understand the general rules of origin for textiles under the AGOA
4. To analyse the access to the US market for the African products under the AGOA
5. To know the Trade Agreements between the African Countries and the United States (COMESA, UEMOA, EAC)
6. To analyse the international trade between the African Countries and the United States

Sample of the subject - The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA):

Description of the Subject: The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a US Trade Act that considerably enhances the United States Market access for forty Sub-Saharan African Countries.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act initially covered the 8-year period from 2000 to Sept. 2008, but rectifications signed into law by President Bush in 2004 extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act to 2015.

The countries eligible for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) are Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, the Comoros, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia.

The countries not eligible for the AGOA are Zimbabwe and Sudan.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) passed as part of the Trade and Development Act of 2000 provides beneficiary countries in Sub-Saharan Africa with the most liberal access to the United States Market available to any nation or region with which the United States do not have a free trade agreement (FTA).

The AGOA strengthen the African reform efforts, provides improved access to the United States, credit, and technical expertise, and create a high-level dialogue on external trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) in the form of a United States-Sub-Saharan Africa International Trade and Economic Forum.

The Africa Investment Incentive Act (2006) amends parts of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and is referred to as “AGOA IV.” The AGOA extends GSP (Generalised System of Preferences) for eligible Sub-Saharan African beneficiaries until September 2015.

The United States-Africa trade

Since its beginning in 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has contributed to increasing foreign trade with Africa and diversify the range of products exported.

1. The total international trade between the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa augmented 37% (USD 60.6 billion)
2. The United States total exports to Africa reach 22% to USD 10.3 billion, with remarkable gains in agricultural products, machinery, and international transport equipment
3. The United States total imports (AGOA and non-AGOA) from Africa augmented by 40% to USD 50.3 billion, mostly owing to an increase in petrol imports
4. The United States imports from the Sub-Saharan African Countries under the AGOA (including its GSP dispositions) were USD 38 billion
5. Non-petrol AGOA trade decreased by 16%, to USD 2.9 billion. Principally owing to declines in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) apparel imports (USD 1.4 billion, down 12%), minerals and metals (USD 493 million, down 32%), and transport equipment (USD 273 million, down 49%)

Bilateral investment treaty (US-African Countries): Rwanda, Mozambique, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon.

Trade and Investment Framework Agreements (TIFA): Angola, Ghana, Liberia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) belongs to the African Civilisation and the North American area of the Western Civilisation.