Overview:
In a statement issued by the White House on December 29, 2023, US President Joe Biden said Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda do not meet the requirements described in the Trade Act
United States has removed Uganda from the list of countries benefiting from African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
In a statement issued by the White House on December 29, 2023, US President Joe Biden said Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda do not meet the requirements described in the Trade Act
“Accordingly, I have decided to terminate the designations of the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for purposes of section 506A of the Trade Act, effective January 1, 2024,” he said.
AGOA provides sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the U.S. market for over 1,800 products.
This comes after the US warned last year that Uganda does not currently meet the criterion of countries benefiting from AGOA due to reports of human rights abuses and was therefore set to lose its eligibility for AGOA benefits, effective January 1, 2024.
This came after President Yoweri Museveni assented to the anti-gay law passed by the Ugandan lawmakers, which introduced serious repercussions, including life imprisonment or death, for same-sex relations in the country.
Since the establishment of the Agoa legislation in 2000 to allow several African countries to export a number of commodities to the US duty-free, Uganda has been a significant beneficiary of the programme.
In the 12 months to June 2023, Uganda’s exports to the US under Agoa amounted to $8.2 million, about 11.5 percent of its total exports to the US in the same period, which totalled $70.7 million, data from the US Department of Commerce shows.
Over 80 percent of Uganda’s exports under Agoa were from the agricultural sector, which employs about 72 percent of the country’s workforce, indicating that the expulsion could have a significant hit on jobs.