President Joe Biden’s administration announced on Saturday that it had excluded Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from a US-Africa trade agreement, saying the actions of the three governments violated its principles. The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was put in place in 2000 under the administration of former president Bill Clinton to facilitate and regulate trade between the United States and Africa. But the United States is “deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali,” the statement said. By 2020, 38 countries were eligible for AGOA, according to the USTR website. The agreement was modernized in 2015 by the US Congress, which also extended the programme until 2025.

Source: Ethiopian News January 02, 2022 08:30 UTC