USTR Froman Announces New Trade Efforts with East African Community, Initiates Review for AGOA Renewal
U.S Trade Representative Mike Froman announced new negotiations between the U.S. and the East African Community (EAC) under President Obama’s Trade Africa initiative, following a U.S.-EAC Trade Ministerial Meeting on Aug. 12. After meeting with the EAC trade ministers and secretary general, Froman issued a statement (here) listing new efforts, including a U.S.-EAC decision to launch formal negotiations on a Trade Facilitation Agreement “with a view to conclude these negotiations as quickly as possible.”
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Froman said the U.S. and EAC will also add new elements to the U.S.-EAC Trade and Investment Partnership “focused on sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures and technical barriers to trade.” In addition, the U.S. Agency for International Development “will transform the East Africa Trade Hub into a U.S.-East Africa Trade and Investment Center to expand U.S. regional trade programs, spur private investment, and scale up business-to-business and association-to-association partnerships,” Froman said. The U.S. will also form a new partnership with TradeMark East Africa, an organization dedicated to supporting EAC regional integration, Froman said.
These efforts would build on the “already notable progress” made on the Trade Africa initiative, which Froman reviewed in remarks delivered to the Aug. 12 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum (here). Under AGOA, U.S. total trade with sub-Saharan Africa increased by over 250 percent since 2001, while U.S. exports to the region have more than tripled, Froman said.
However, Froman said that further progress is required for “AGOA 2.0.” “This is all good news,” he said. “But of course, we are not satisfied yet.” Froman said the “seamless” renewal of AGOA before its 2015 expiration would be more than a matter of timing, but “also a matter of substance” that would have to adjust to changes in the global trading system.
In preparation for AGOA renewal, Froman advised policymakers to review the record for policy successes, discuss specifics, learn from trading partners, and build bilateral relationships while strengthening multilateral priorities. He added that policy makers would have to look towards making AGOA a “better stepladder to Africa’s future growth,” since the act was “never intended to be a permanent preference program, nor should it be.” Froman concluded that in the end, it was “very possible” that AGOA would be renewed as is.