USTR Official Champions AGOA Renewal, Administration Tight-Lipped on Reforms
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is adamantly pushing for a long-term African Growth and Opportunity Act extension that provides confidence to the business community, said Assistant USTR for Africa Florie Liser at a Sept. 10 event, while declining to comment on the specific lifespan USTR is advocating. During the recent U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, African heads of state “agreed the prompt, long-term renewal of AGOA is imperative,” said Liser, at the event hosted by the Global Business Dialogue. Industry leaders have consistently over recent months called for a 15-year renewal to be passed into to law by the end of 2014 (see 14081407).
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The Obama administration is currently mulling additional product coverage, rules of origin and eligibility criteria reform, and trade capacity-building as part of AGOA improvements as part of the program’s renewal. “No matter what the duties are, apart from AGOA’s duty free access, that alone is really not going to promote greater U.S.-Africa trade,” said Liser. “That was one of the clearest and most important findings” of the recent International Trade Commission reports on the preferential program. The ITC released four reports on AGOA in April (see 14042826).
President Barack Obama unveiled an administration-wide strategy to bolster AGOA in early August, including the establishment of a steering committee (see 14040402). The administration aims to work with industry members “to help the Africans to develop their cotton to textiles to apparel" and "to hopefully see an increase in the amount of inputs that are produced on the continent,” said Liser, adding that the administration would also like to see diversification in the type of African products exported to the U.S. under AGOA. The preference program is currently severely underused, Liser said, echoing a common concern of industry members.
Meanwhile, the Export-Import Bank is eyeing a significant increase in the near future in transactions with companies in sub-Saharan Africa, said Benjamin Todd, senior business development officer in the Africa arm of the credit agency, at the event. “Over the last four years, our authorizations have topped 5 billion dollars, which is more than the previous decade combined,” said Todd, referring strictly to partners in sub-Saharan Africa. “Our business is booming in Africa. This current fiscal year we’ve already authorized 1.5 billion in transactions, which is by far a record.” The House Appropriations Committee introduced a continuing resolution on Sept. 9 that would temporarily extend the bank’s charter following its Sept. 30 expiration, but the bank still faces an uncertain future (see 14091001). -- Brian Dabbs