The architect of a programme allowing African nations to export products to the US without paying duties said the deal should be extended to other poor nations around the world.
“Clearly there are a lot of countries that are very, very poor. There are some of them in Asia,” Jim McDermott, a US congressman viewed as one of the founders of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), told Reuters.
“We mustn’t leave out other countries. If you’re poor, it doesn’t make any difference if you’re Asian or South American. You really need opportunity. We are opening to other countries but not at the expense of Africa.”
US trade with sub-Saharan African countries remains low, despite AGOA’s duty-free treatment for 6400 products. Sub-Saharan African countries accounted for just slightly more than 1 % of total US exports and about 3 % of total US imports in 2008.
AGOA was passed into law in 2000 with the hope that it would bring Africa into global trade, McDermott said during a visit to Kenya.
“There is no reason Africans can’t compete with the world, but they needed to have the US reach out and draw them in because we are the biggest market.”
“Two-way street”
There had been no specific US trade policy for Africa before AGOA, McDermott said, but 38 nations are now eligible to export to the US Most exports have so far been oil.
“We want it to be a two-way street,” the congressman said.
“We want Africans to sell to us and get their economy going and get foreign exchange and to do things inside their countries. But we also want them to have money to buy things from us.”
African exporters to the US have been clamouring to have the 2015 deadline for AGOA extended indefinitely. But US officials believe the time limit will remain unchanged and that it is up to Africa to make the most of the deal as it is.
McDermott, however, backed Africans who want AGOA extended, saying US buyers would be reluctant to make commitments with only a short time left for the end of the deal.
“You need continuity and certainty to get things really rolling. One of the problems with AGOA is that it has been year by year by year.”
Africa-US trade has remained skewed in favour of the superpower, but McDermott said he was happy with the increased flow of merchandise from the continent to his country.
“It doesn’t happen instantly. I would like it to. I wish I can wave a magic wand and make everything better, but the process is working.”
Pic: Food aid in the DRC
