U.S. seeks improve trade, investments in Africa

Trade officials from the United States have called for increased trade between the United States and Africa, saying that the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), is a key part of the strategy to unlock improved trading opportunities.

They also called for increased capacity of African companies to have goods and services traded so that AGOA utilisation will increase. They spoke at the 2024 U.S.-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Cooperation forum themed: ‘Beyond 2025: Reimagining AGOA for an Inclusive, Sustainable and Prosperous Tomorrow’, which brought together senior government officials and AGOA-eligible countries as well as representatives from key regional economic organisations.

Discussions focused on how to modernise AGOA and make the partnership more effective, inclusive and tailored to the realities of a 21st-century U.S-Africa economic partnership.

Anchored by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa, Constance Hamilton and the U.S. Department of State’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Joy Basu, the former said the U.S. remained committed to AGOA and has hosted several conversations on how to increase the use of the programme.

“We explored barriers that women, youth, micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, and the African diaspora face in assessing trade and investment opportunities as well as how to better use the multilateral trading system to benefit more people, especially those in underserved communities.

“We also discussed opportunities to modernise the program to realise its full potential as a tool for development and to support regional economic integration and also, how the United States and AGOA partners can collectively create and promote stronger, high-standard investment opportunities,” she said.

Basu affirmed that AGOA remained an important cornerstone of their trade and investment relationship with sub-Saharan Africa, revealing that the U.S. currently has over 100 individuals in over 30 AGOA-eligible countries that are certified AGOA advisors.

She added that a challenge identified in the forum was that many small- and medium-sized enterprises either do not know about AGOA or find it difficult to complete the needed legal work.

“Our new U.S. Africa Trade Desk, which was launched in March to help U.S. retailers diversify their sourcing and reduce dependencies in certain supply chains, has 20,000 American retailers on it, and it’s open to many different African producers, particularly in the agricultural sector,” she said.