US strikes four African countries off preferential trade list

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The US is to remove preferential trading access under the African Growth and Opportunity Act from Uganda, the Central African Republic, Gabon and Niger for human rights violations and for failure to make democratic progress.

President Joe Biden said Uganda, which this year passed punitive anti-gay laws including the death penalty for people engaging in certain same-sex acts, had committed “gross violations of internationally recognised human rights”.

Niger and Gabon, whose governments were overthrown in coups this year, fell foul of Agoa stipulations that they should be “making continual progress towards establishing the protection of political pluralism and the rule of law”, he said.

The loss of Agoa status takes effect for all four countries in January.

The US this year suspended foreign aid for both Gabon and Niger. Niger’s ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, was a close Washington ally in the war against Islamist extremism in the Sahel.

Analysts say the Central African Republic probably lost its Agoa status because of its ties to the Wagner paramilitary group, designated a transnational criminal organisation by the US treasury and accused of committing atrocities, although Biden did not mention the Russian group explicitly.

Wagner, which provides personal security for CAR’s president and participates in combat missions against rebel groups, has been granted gold and diamond mines in the mineral-rich country as well as timber concessions. 

But following the death in August of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin and recent attempts at a rapprochement between Bangui, Paris and Washington, the Wagner military and business presence in the impoverished country had shrunk considerably, said businesses people based in the capital. 

CAR exported less than $1mn of goods to the US in 2021, with “sawn wood” and “fake hair” topping the list.

South Africa, whose car, textile and clothing industries benefit significantly from tariff-free access to the US, will maintain its Agoa benefits. South Africa is the biggest US trading partner in Africa with exports to the US worth $15bn in 2022.

Washington and Pretoria overcame tensions this year over a perceived drift by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ruling African National Congress towards Russia. The continent’s most industrialised economy’s access to Agoa was threatened in May when the US ambassador to Pretoria accused South Africa of smuggling arms to Russia through a US-sanctioned ship docked in Cape Town.

Ramaphosa’s government lobbied US officials and lawmakers to let South Africa remain in Agoa and mounted an investigation that concluded that arms had not been found on the Lady R, a Russian transport vessel.

In a sign of rapprochement, US trade representative Katherine Tai will travel to Johannesburg this week for an Agoa forum hosted by Ramaphosa.

The US introduced Agoa in 2000 as a way of stimulating African exports through preferential access for some 1,800 designated goods. Some countries, including South Africa, Lesotho and Kenya, have benefited greatly from tariff-free access, though others have failed to develop industries with goods to sell to the US in significant quantity.

Ethiopia, which built a textile industry partly on the back of Agoa access, was struck off last year after a civil war in which atrocities were documented. Addis Ababa said more than 12,000 people lost their jobs because of the removal of preferential access to US markets. It has lobbied hard to be reinstated.

Susan Muhwezi, senior adviser to the Ugandan president on trade, said Uganda was not aware of the reasons for it being removed from Agoa, “apart from hearing what was in the statement — gross violations of human rights”.

She added: “I trust that they definitely know that to cancel a trade preference is not a very welcomed thing. It costs jobs, people have invested, people are benefiting . . . Probably their interpretation of human rights could be different.”

Under Biden the US has sought more pragmatic engagement with African governments, few of which are fully democratic and a number of which have fallen to military dictatorships in recent years. But Agoa legislation is linked to specific criteria including adherence to certain standards of human rights and perceived progress towards democracy.

The Biden’s administration has increased diplomatic engagement with Africa, with visits by several top officials including vice-president Kamala Harris and treasury secretary Janet Yellen. The US president is expected to visit at least one country on the continent in December.