The United States on Saturday cut Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from access to a duty-free trade program, following through on President Joe Biden's threat to do so over alleged human rights violations and recent coups. "The United States today terminated Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from the AGOA trade preference program due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the AGOA Statute," the U.S. Trade Representative's office said in a statement. Biden said in November that Ethiopia https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-conflict-trade-idCAKBN2HN1QQ would be cut off from the duty-free trading regime provided under the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) due to alleged human rights violations in the Tigray region, while Mali and Guinea were targeted due to recent coups. The AGOA trade legislation provides sub-Saharan African nations with duty-free access to the United States if they meet certain eligibility requirements, such as eliminating barriers to U.S. trade and investment and making progress toward political pluralism. Ethiopia's Trade Ministry said it November it was "extremely disappointed" by Washington's announcement, saying the move would reverse economic gains and unfairly impact and harm women and children.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 02, 2022 01:47 UTC