The Trump administration suspended Rwanda from AGOA. The African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA) is an instrument promulgated by Washington in 2000 to promote partnership relations with Africa in place of aid. public.
Prolonged by Barack Obama for ten years, Bill Clinton’s law allows access to more than 6,000 products from 38 African countries (selected according to their respect for human rights and democracy) to the US market without tariffs, subject to low taxation for certain products imported from the United States.
The only problem, as we have seen in the case of Rwanda, is that AGOA is managed unilaterally by Washington. It is in response to the decision of the East African countries to remove customs barriers to the import of second-hand clothes that the American sanction has fallen. The Rwandan Ministry of Commerce explains in a statement that the East African countries’ measure aims at promoting the development of local manufacturing, textile industry and clothing.
The Trump administration accuses Kigali of the tariff barriers it imposes on US recycled clothing and footwear, which is contrary, she says, to the spirit of AGOA, which claims reciprocity of commercial benefits between member countries and the USA.
Highly tactical in its response, Washington limits the punishment to only Rwanda, a way of creating distortions within the region. Already, Uganda and Tanzania have announced that they have taken steps to eliminate joint increases with Rwanda, says the American Association of Used and Recycled Textiles (SMART), which has the sanction taken against Kigali.
Beyond the immediate consequences, Rwanda’s withdrawal from AGOA illustrates an imbalance that the future ZLECA (provided it materializes) could mitigate or even correct