Obama Terminates Swaziland Benefits in AGOA, Reinstates Madagascar
President Barack Obama issued a proclamation on June 26 to remove Swaziland as a beneficiary country under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), effective Jan. 1, 2015. The president did not remove South Africa, despite some speculation over recent…
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months that South Africa may be graduated from the program. Obama also reinstated Madagascar into the AGOA program after terminating its benefits in 2009. The decision to end beneficiary status for Swaziland comes because the country failed to demonstrate sufficient progress on facilitating workers’ rights, primarily freedom of association and the right to organize, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in a press release following the proclamation. “The withdrawal of AGOA benefits is not a decision that is taken lightly,” said USTR chief Michael Froman. “We have made our concerns very clear to Swaziland over the last several years and we engaged extensively on concrete steps that Swaziland could take to address the concerns."