The United States cancels Rwanda’s AGOA preferential treatment
The U.S. government recently announced the termination of Rwanda’s zero-tariff treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for 60 days until Rwanda lowers its tariff barriers on second-hand clothing imported from the United States to the Rwandan market. This move clearly shows that the U.S. government has begun to abandon its trade assistance to Africa since 2000. Its view of U.S.-Africa economic and trade relations has begun to proceed from its preference for bilateral trade agreements, launching a trade war against the least developed countries in Africa, which may have a negative impact on Africa. Mainland China’s future economic expectations will have a great impact.
The textile industry is the lifeblood of Africa’s industrial development. Due to long-term political instability, infrastructure shortages and marginalization, most African countries have only developed garment manufacturing industries with low technical content. As the African continent as a whole faces the task of getting rid of single raw material exports and realizing industrialization development, the textile industry is also an important driver of Africa’s industrialization development. For example, Ethiopia has proposed to build a garment processing center in Africa, and Senegal has invested US$425 million to revive the national textile factory that has been closed for 15 years. The African continent’s overall tax on second-hand clothing actually shows its ambition to become the next “world factory”.
On the other hand, textiles are the products that African countries mainly benefit from US-Africa trade. In 2000, the United States introduced the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which, as envisioned by its original policymakers, enhanced Africa’s growth capabilities. In the 10 years since the act began, exports from AGOA countries to the United States have nearly tripled.
This is the first time that the United States has imposed sanctions on Rwanda for terminating AGOA qualifications for economic reasons. On the surface, this is Trump’s consideration based on “America First”. At the beginning of taking office, Trump began to urge Congress to cut aid to Africa. Although AGOA was extended in 2015 and stipulated to expire in 2025, Trump cannot ask Congress to repeal it, but he will further weaken the bill. The tendency to promote trade aid has become very obvious.
The deeper reason is that Africa has always been at the bottom of U.S. foreign policy. The most important significance of Africa to the United States lies in the competitive drive of external forces. Currently, due to the rapid development of domestic shale gas, U.S. oil imports from Africa have dropped significantly, and the U.S.-Africa trade deficit has also narrowed nearly 10 times. At the same time, China’s exports to Africa are nearly five times that of the United States, which has led to the Trump administration’s policy toward Africa beginning to change. Economically, it has cut aid, demanded fair trade, and politically used the “China conspiracy theory” to incite Africa.
This time the United States attacks the least developed countries, which fully demonstrates its original policy intention of being seriously coerced by interest groups and populist forces, passing the crisis to other developing countries, and continuing to enjoy the fruits of globalization exclusively. This is a serious blow to globalization and global governance. Given that the US-Africa trade volume is insignificant to the United States, the US government is willing to fight a trade war at the expense of Africa’s development. On the one hand, it has cut free aid and cut off trade aid. On the other hand, it has created public opinion to drive a wedge between China and Africa, trying to cut off the African continent. The only currently expected stable source of development financing has sinister intentions for African countries. (Title: The United States cancels Rwanda’s AGOA preferential treatment)
AAA
Disclaimer:
Disclaimer: Some of the texts, pictures, audios, and videos of some articles published on this site are from the Internet and do not represent the views of this site. The copyrights belong to the original authors. If you find that the information reproduced on this website infringes upon your rights, please contact us and we will change or delete it as soon as possible.
AA
