JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration wants to work with Congress to improve U.S.-Africa trade programme AGOA, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday in a video message to a U.S.-Africa trade summit in South Africa.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai told the same summit that the United States believed there was an opportunity to shape a stronger and forward-looking vision for U.S.-Africa trade.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a U.S. trade initiative passed in 2000 under former President Bill Clinton to deepen trade ties with Sub-Saharan Africa and help African countries develop their economies, provides duty-free access to the U.S. market.
African countries are pushing for an early 10-year extension without changes in order to reassure businesses and investors who might have concerns over AGOA’s future.
(Reporting by Joe Bavier, Bhargav Acharya, Nellie Peyton and Carien du Plessis; Writing by Tannur Anders; Editing by Alexander Winning)
