US removes Ethiopia, Guinea and Mali from Agoa trade pact

The United States government has cut crucial trade ties with three African countries over alleged human rights violations and military coups.

Guinea, Mali and Ethiopia were removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a duty-free trade programme, US officials said.

While the West African neighbours of Guinea and Mali were cited for interrupting their democratic processes due to recent military coups, the East African nation is being punished for human rights violations in its ongoing war with separatist groups in the northern Tigray region.

The US Trade Representative said in a statement on Saturday that it had terminated the three countries’ membership in Agoa “due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the Agoa Statute”.

The statement added that the US was concerned “by the gross violations of internationally recognised human rights being perpetrated by the government of Ethiopia and other parties amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia” and for “the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali”.

Founded in 2000, Agoa has been at the core of America’s economic policy and commercial engagement with Africa.

It provides eligible sub-Saharan African countries with duty-free access to the US market for over 1,800 products, in addition to the more than 5,000 products eligible for duty-free access under the Generalised System of Preferences programme.

African countries must meet rigorous eligibility requirements, including establishing or making continual progress toward setting up a market-based economy, the rule of law, political pluralism, and the right to due process.

Alleged human rights violations

Eligible countries must also eliminate barriers to US trade and investment, and enact policies to reduce poverty, combat corruption and protect human rights.
The move on Saturday fulfilled a threat by US President Joe Biden in November to remove Ethiopia from the programme over alleged human rights violations in its protracted war in Tigray.

The conflict that erupted in November 2020 is reported to have led to the deaths of thousands of people, with thousands more facing hunger.

The US is one of Ethiopia’s largest trade partners, especially in its textile industry.

Mali has been under military rule since August 2020, when the soldiers removed the democratically elected government of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
About one year later, a civilian-led transition administration installed with the support of the regional bloc Ecowas was again removed by the military, prompting international condemnation.

In Guinea’s case, the military overthrew longtime leader Alpha Conde.

Both countries were slammed with sanctions by Ecowas, which called on its international partners, including the US, to follow suit.

The US is also unhappy with Mali over the Sahel nation’s decision to forge military ties with Russia.

Nonetheless, the US government says, all three sanctioned countries have a chance to be reinstated into the Agoa fold if they meet its requirements in line with its founding provisions.

“Each country has clear benchmarks for a pathway toward reinstatement and the Administration will work with their governments to achieve that objective,” the statement noted.