The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) today released its report African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA): Program Usage, Trends, and Sectoral Highlights (Inv. No. 332-589). This investigation and report were requested by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means in a letter received on January 19, 2022.
As requested, the USITC, an independent nonpartisan factfinding federal agency, conducted an investigation to gather information on and analyze the AGOA program’s usage and impact in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This report provides information and analysis on the background and requirements of the AGOA program, utilization rates, trends in U.S. imports under AGOA, and the impact of the program on regional integration, workers, underserved communities, economic development, job growth, and poverty reduction. The report also includes case studies on four industries present in SSA: apparel, cotton, cocoa, and certain chemicals.
The report finds that the impact of the AGOA program on beneficiary countries can be substantial depending on the sector, especially apparel. Moreover, although the influence throughout SSA as a whole has been minimal, interviews by Commission staff, fieldwork, and some academic literature indicate that AGOA may have had a positive impact in key areas such as poverty reduction and job growth in some countries. The effect was found to be particularly important in the apparel sector and among underserved groups, such as women. Anecdotal evidence indicated that while meeting AGOA eligibility requirements created a positive impact on workers and poverty reduction, the loss of program eligibility due to failure to meet program requirements had a negative impact on beneficiary economies and regional integration.
Additional highlights from the report include:
AGOA benefits accrue to a subset of countries and sectors within SSA. Over three-quarters of non-crude petroleum imports under AGOA originated from five countries during 2014–21: South Africa, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, and Ethiopia. Countries with lower utilization rates typically have few exports to the United States in general, or their primary traded goods are not eligible for AGOA preferences or are already duty free under normal trade relations. Read More→
https://www.usitc.gov/press_room/news_release/2023/er0417_63816.htm
