WASHINGTON – United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Deputy United States Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi hosted trade ministers from sub-Saharan Africa for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Ministerial during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.
The Ministerial re-affirmed the United States’ commitment to expanding trade and investment with the continent and highlighted the broad agreement on the need to strengthen implementation and modernize AGOA to translate opportunity into concrete benefits for the African people. Leading trade officials in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Biden-Harris Administration exchanged perspectives on core issues impacting our trade relationship, including the future of AGOA.
Ambassador Tai thanked the ministers for a productive and candid discussion about the issues that are central to the U.S.-Africa trade and investment relationship. She emphasized the need to think creatively and build on the accomplishments of AGOA by developing ideas that will drive economic integration and investment across the continent. Ambassador Tai also convened a plenary session with trade ministers and a bipartisan group of members of Congress on the House Ways and Means and Foreign Affairs Committees who discussed their support for deepening the U.S. – Africa trade and investment ties.
AGOA was enacted in 2000 and has since been at the core of U.S. trade and investment policy with sub-Saharan Africa. AGOA provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the U.S. economy and has helped drive investment on the continent, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, promoting regional integration and enhancing Africa’s export competitiveness. It has also incentivized many African governments to undertake key political and economic reforms.
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