US terminates Uganda, three others from AGOA

_______________________

Despite best efforts made by Uganda to continue participating in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), President Joe Biden has determined that these efforts were not good enough.

US President Joe Biden issued a statement dated December 29, 2023, titled: ‘Presidential Proclamation to take certain actions under the African Growth and Opportunity Act and For Other Purposes’.

“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 are terminated, effective January 1, 2024,” read part of the statement.

“Pursuant to section 506A(a)(3) of the Trade Act, I have determined that the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda do not meet the requirements described in section 506A(a)(1) of 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,” reads the statement.

In order to reflect in the Harmonised Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS), Biden directed that beginning January 1st 2024, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda shall no longer be designated as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries, general note 16(a) to the HTS is modified by deleting “Central African Republic”, “Gabonese Republic”, “Republic of Niger”, and “Republic of Uganda” from the list of beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries. 

Note 7(a) to subchapter II and note 1 to subchapter XIX of chapter 98 of the HTS are each modified by deleting “Uganda” from the list of beneficiary countries.  Further, note 2(d) to subchapter XIX of chapter 98 of the HTS is modified by deleting “Central African Republic;”, “Niger;”, and “Republic of Uganda;” from the list of lesser-developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries.

Mauritania benefits

On a good note, one African country Mauritania has been admitted. In Proclamation 9834 of December 21, 2018, the President determined that Islamic Mauritania was not making continual progress in meeting the requirements described in section 506A (a)(1) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the “Trade Act”), as added by section 111(a) of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (the “AGOA”) (title I of Public Law 106–200.

Thus, pursuant to section 506A (a)(3) of the Trade Act (19 U.S.C. 2466a(a)(3)), the President terminated the designation of Mauritania as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country for purposes of section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act.

“Pursuant to section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act, based on actions the Government of Mauritania has taken, I have determined that Mauritania meets the eligibility requirements set forth in section 104 of the AGOA and the eligibility criteria set forth in section 502 of the Trade Act, and I have decided to designate Mauritania as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country,” read the statement.

Further to that Biden stated that Section 112(c) of the AGOA, as amended in Section 6002(a)(3) of the Africa Investment Incentive Act of 2006 (division D, title VI, Public Law 109-432, 120 Stat. 2922, 3190‑93), 19 U.S.C. 3721(c), provides special rules for certain apparel articles imported from “lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries.”

He determined that Mauritania satisfies the criterion for treatment as a “lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African country” under section 112(c) of the AGOA.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on December 4, 2023, held discussions with the new US ambassador to Uganda William W. Popp.

During the meeting held at State House Entebbe, Museveni and Popp discussed many matters including the AGOA issue.

AGOA enables tax-free access to the US market for eligible countries earmarking about 6,500 products.

Museveni used the meeting to hand over a special message to the President of the United States of America Joe Biden. The diplomatic letter that called for Biden’s attention was handed to Popp to deliver it to the US leader.

“President Biden wrote to me about AGOA, so I have answered him. You will deliver the letter to him,” the President said.

On his part, Popp reiterated the US government's commitment to continue cooperating with Uganda through improved bilateral relations.

“We do want to continue conducting business with Uganda as a whole through different projects. These projects could be worked on without any restrictions,” he noted.

Susan Muhwezi, the senior presidential advisor on AGOA and other trade-related matters, while responding to indications of suspending Uganda from AGOA, said Uganda was a peaceful country.

Muhwezi explained that Uganda was not involved in human rights violations that should affect its participation in AGOA. In that respect, Muhwezi asserted that it was not necessary to suspend Uganda’s participation in AGOA.

“Suspending Uganda from AGOA would damage the livelihoods of producers and traders of cotton, coffee, vanilla, and other goods. Suspending Uganda will amount to a violation of human rights,” Muhwezi said.

Uganda’s other exports to US, include leather products, shea butter, crafts and dairy products, casein, fish, vanilla, dried fruits, cocoa, essential oils, natural extracts, spices, and floriculture.

Last year Uganda’s exports to US under the programme were valued at $12.3m (shillings 47 billion) with high growth potential. She cited challenges such as high cost of transport, lack of awareness, and stringent certification processes that require Uganda to think outside the box if it is to earn more from AGOA.