Ethiopia Regrets US Decision to Terminate Its Eligibility for AGOA
Much to Ethiopia's dismay, the US has chosen to withdraw its eligibility for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Come take a look at our article to learn more about this decision.
The US has always believed that the development of African countries cannot be achieved without a win-win partnership. It is in this context that in the early 2000s, President Clinton implemented the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to strengthen relations between the two nations. The list of beneficiary countries is updated each year, with varying fortunes for the member countries.
What Is the AGOA?
As a reminder, the AGOA is a trade agreement set up in 2000 under the Clinton administration to facilitate and regulate trade between the US and Africa. This agreement allows more than 6,000 products from eligible countries to enter the US without paying any customs duties.
Exit Ethiopia
At the end of 2021, the American Congress published the list of countries eligible for AGOA for 2022, and it is no surprise that Ethiopia was withdrawn. The alleged human rights violations involving the conflict in Tigray motivated the US decision, which went into effect on January 1st, 2022. Several abuses have been committed on both sides, which puts the regular Ethiopian army against an armed rebellion in the country's north, and international calls for calm have gone unheeded. Ethiopia's exclusion is a setback because the country primarily exported textiles and coffee to the US, with exports reaching around $245 million in just 2020 alone.
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However, Ethiopia is not the only country that has been excluded from the agreement. Washington ruled that Mali and Guinea violated the principles of this agreement as well, and they were also excluded along with Ethiopia. “Our administration is deeply concerned about the unconstitutional change of government in Guinea and Mali, and the gross, internationally recognized human rights abuses perpetrated by the Ethiopian government and other parties as the ongoing conflict extends into northern Ethiopia," stated Ambassador Katherine Tai.
Meanwhile, some analysts fear that this could push Ethiopia, Mali, and Guinea into the arms of other economic powers such as China and India.
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