Joe Biden’s emergence as the new US President is likely to give new impetus to stalled talks on a trade pact of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) between Washington and a number of African countries including Rwanda, analysts have said.
The initiative was officially launched in 2000 when former US President Bill Clinton signed AGOA, giving African countries a competitive edge by providing unilateral duty-free exports for 6,500 products from Africa to the United States.
Currently forty African countries were until recently eligible for AGOA, including Rwanda.
Analysts believe that almost twenty years after AGOA was first adopted, the opportunity has created long-term, sustainable growth by stimulating the private sector and creating jobs in a region where many countries are battling high unemployment, thereby addressing structural challenges the region faces.
Yet the White House with outgoing President Donald Trump at the helm has initially launched an Africa policy that seeks both primacy and partnership on the continent.
His administration terminated Trade Preference Program Eligibility for a number of African countries including Rwanda with plans to suspend duty-free access to the East African country’s textile imports because of Kigali’s refusal to lower trade barriers for American-made clothing and shoes.
Official reports indicate that the U.S. exported $330,000 worth of textiles and apparel to Rwanda in 2018 and imported about $460,000.
Coffee and tea shipments were Rwanda’s top U.S. exports worth $18 million during the same period
Although it was not officially celebrated as a victory, analysts believe the congratulaory messages sent to the new US elect President Joe Biden is a sign that African governments are seeing a new wind blowing in Washington.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame is among African leaders who congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their historical victory.
Taking to Twitter, the Rwandan leader said: “We look forward to building on the strong partnership between our countries”.
Little is known about Biden’s planned foreign policy agenda, but several president belonging to the Democratic party have committed their administration to a partnership with Rwanda to continue supporting the East African country achieve its development aspirations.
But following the Trump administration Rwandan government said that such hardships were short-lived.
The country has shifted with opening new factories that are expected to create more, better paid jobs, while expanding domestic consumption as a move to cut its external trade deficit.
CU/as/APA