November 6 , 2021
The US government has terminated Ethiopia’s involvement in the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA), citing “gross violations of internationally recognised human rights.” Signed into US law in 2000, AGOA permitted the duty-free entry of African-produced goods. Ethiopia has been privileged to export close to 6,500 items to the US market, with an annual value of over half a billion dollars. The trade deal is particularly beneficial to the country's textile industry. Companies at Hawassa Industrial Park, dedicated mainly to textile manufacturing, exported 95pc of their products to the US last year. Ethiopia is one of three sub-Sahara African countries to lose the privilege, together with Mali and Guinea. "I intend to terminate the designation of Ethiopia, Guinea, and Mali as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries under the AGOA as of January 1, 2022," says a letter President Joe Biden wrote to Congress on November 2, 2021. "I'll continue to assess whether the Governments of Ethiopia, Guinea, and Mali are making continual progress toward meeting the AGOA eligibility requirements."
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