US terminates Ethiopia’s AGOA trade privileges
President Joe Biden’s administration has terminated Ethiopia’s involvement in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), an agreement which gives the country duty-free access to the United States market, citing “gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”
Reuters reported Tuesday that President Biden said in a letter to Congress that the move will take effect on January 1, 2022.
Biden said: “Ethiopia was not in compliance with the AGOA eligibility requirements”.
Signed into US law in 2000, AGOA permitted the duty-free entry of African produced goods. Ethiopia has been privileged to export close to 6,500 items to the US market, with an annual value of a little less than half a billion dollars.
Ethiopia is one of three sub-Sahara African countries to lose the privilege, together with Mali and Guinea
