AGOA to be renewed and extended as the United States seeks to strike new trade deal with a rapidly changing Africa

It is a longstanding policy of the United States to grant preferential trade deals to developing countries, in order to promote good relationships and to support growth for smaller economies. But what happens when those developing countries begin picking up the pace, leveraging their resources as they benefit more and more from favorable export agreements, possibly at the expense of their more developed trade partners?

That’s the question facing U.S. and sub-Saharan African officials in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa this week, as policy makers gather to discuss the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA.

AGOA was signed into law in 2000; it offers incentives mostly in the form of duty-free trade access to 39 eligible sub-Saharan economies to liberalize their markets and build connections with American trade partners.

Much has changed since AGOA was first implemented; African exports under the agreement grew by than 500 percent between 2000 and 2011, and African economies are witnessing growth at breakneck speeds, middle classes are swelling and urban hubs of enterprise are thriving. Last month, the International Monetary Fund projected that economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa should reach 6.1 percent next year, exceeding the expected global average of 4 percent.

Read more: International Business Times