By Danilo Desiderio African governments can mobilize overnight to serve a foreign trade partner. Yet they stall for years when asked to integrate with each other....
By Ziad Hamoui Three months of uncertainty revealed what reliance on non-reciprocal arrangements truly costs the continent. The US House of Representatives approved the African Growth...
By Sheena Raikundalia US President Trump’s decision to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act through December 2026 has sparked jubilation in Nairobi. But beneath the...
By Gregory Simpkins Throughout 2025, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was considered dead. Legislation extending the trade process failed to get passed in late...
By JP Følsgaard Bak Last week, I attended what felt like the funeral of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) – not in a chapel,...
By Mark-Anthony Johnson Since its launch in May 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has provided sub-Saharan African countries with preferential access to the...
By Gregory Simpkins I have been associated with the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) since House staffer Mike Williams wrote the first draft. I worked...
By Gregory Simpkins US President Donald Trump appears to be more determined than ever to pursue his international tariff policies, even through the several reversals of...
By Gregory Simpkins After the recent conclusion of the US-China trade negotiations, US President Donald Trump praised the agreement reached on social media as “a great...
By Mary Alorh The year 2025 will likely be remembered as a pivotal moment in global trade, marked by escalating trade wars and the strategic use...
By Mary Alorh In today’s fiercely competitive global landscape, opportunity often emerges where others have failed – and nowhere is this more evident than in the...
By Gregory Simpkins During the last decade, the international economic order has been in significant turmoil – from the immediate and ancillary impacts of the Russia-Ukraine...
By Dishant Shah Since its inception in 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has stood as one of the cornerstone trade programs fostering economic...
By Emmanuel Musaazi Trump is back with a bang. But the crucial question remains: Were any lessons learned from Trump 1.0? Is Africa prepared to engage...
By Danilo Desiderio A recent article published by Semafor raises concerns about the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade agreement that...
By Gregory Simpkins When Donald Trump won re-election as President last November, there were some in Africa and the Diaspora who expressed continued bitterness over his...
By JP Følsgaard Bak An old Danish saying goes: “It is difficult to predict, especially about the future.” This humorous yet insightful remark holds much truth....
By Gregory Simpkins When President Joe Biden promised during the December 2022 African Leaders Summit to visit Africa before his term ended, many observers probably thought...
By Mary Alorh As Joe Biden concludes his tenure as the 46th President of the United States, it’s an opportune moment to reflect on his administration’s...
By Gregory Simpkins I was blessed to have been involved with the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) from when it was a legislative proposal while...
By Gregory Simpkins After a few years of discussion about what renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) would look like, Senators Chris Coons...
By Gregory Simpkins The global environment is changing at an accelerating pace. The post-World War II arrangements have broken down to be replaced by an emerging...
By Gregory Simpkins In December 2022, the Biden Administration convened a summit with African governmental leaders, as well as African and American businesspeople and civil society...
By Gregory Simpkins Since its signing into law in 2000, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been the main trade program for the United...
By Gregory Simpkins At the recent 123rd National Black Business Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, I told a panel audience that I have been blessed to be...
By Gregory Simpkins In my time in and out of the U.S. government, I have seen and heard much about the value of women entrepreneurs. Years...
By Gregory Simpkins A century ago, Jamaican Diaspora leader Marcus Garvey established what he hoped would be a global economic partnership between the Africa Diaspora in...
By Gregory Simpkins Now that the New Year is upon us, we in the African Diaspora need to plan for joint action to better ensure that...
Reuters | The duty-free access for nearly 40 African countries in a 22-year-old U.S. trade program is no longer enough to boost their development and a...
Bloomberg | The US’s resolve to claw back lost influence in Africa will be put to the test this week when dozens of the continent’s leaders...
By Gregory Simpkins Agency is defined as “the sense of control you feel in life, your capacity to influence your own thoughts and behavior, and the...
By Gregory Simpkins I count myself blessed to have been involved in the creation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and nearly a dozen...
By Dennis Matanda The expression “tenacious contention” suggests that China and the United States are at an impasse after a dogged battle for the position of...
By Gregory Simpkins On May 30, 2019, the framework agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) entered into force, But this continental body still...
"Chinese investments in Africa are “going on very well. The next thing I would ask from them is to allow our products to enter their market...
South Africa and the United States have failed to agree on key parts of a trade agreement on the importation of poultry and pork, with the...
South Africa is fighting to retain duty-free access for exports to the United States worth as much as US$1.7 billion a year in a dispute that...
By Frank Sieren U.S. President Barack Obama cannot do much more in Africa. Asia, especially China, is so far ahead that the United States won’t be...
By David Shipley Good ideas sometimes die not from opposition but from mere neglect. Case in point: the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This is...
Paul Ryan, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee For the past 15 years, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been the thing...
Basis for Proposal Amendments Paul Ryan, Orin Hatch and Michael Froman are saying things that could mean that the 114th Congress and the two last years...
This past January, with the 15-year old African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) program set to expire in September, the African Union dispatched a high-powered delegation...
Liberata Mulamula says that for a market access program like African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) to benefit a country like Tanzania, it must, first and...
“This trade and investment deal or partnership between these United States and an African country like Malawi where I am from really comes down to women...
Let’s make it crystal clear: If the United States does not give Africa the kind of preferences program the continent badly requires, do not blame the...
Last week, in what can only be considered a historical feat, the African Union dispatched a delegation of African Ministers of Trade to Washington, D.C. to...
Stephen Lande is, probably, the foremost expert on preference programs. In other words, Mr. Lande understands the essence of other countries being provided market access to...
US would like the African Growth and Opportunity Act legislation renewed to continue offering opportunity for sub-Saharan African countries. Penny Pritzker, US Secretary of Commerce, Stated,...
Over the next three weeks, the Editorial Team here at The Habari Network is going to be busier than a hive of bees. Not only are...
Africa’s top trading partners. COURTESY/U.S. Senator Chris Coons According to Standard & Poor’s, the U.S. government shutdown ‘… shaved at least 0.6 percent off of annualized fourth-quarter...
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. PHOTO/File By Stephen Lande & Dennis Matanda | Just like Kenya deftly managed a post-inferno crisis that shut down its international airport...
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...
In a thorough first-of-its-kind study, the Brookings Institution made an excellent point: The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) of 2000 has always had an excellent...
As if the task to generate a more effective African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was not arduous enough, a bill (S. 1331) to extend the...
Florie Liser, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa 10:00 a.m. – March 11, 2013 By Dennis Matanda With the flair of a seasoned storyteller, Stephen Lande...
By Stephen Lande + Dennis Matanda In September 2012, just as the 3rd Country Fabric was about to expire, the non controversial African Growth and Opportunity...
Author’s Note | November 23, 2012: An 800 word editorial for The Habari Network morphed into longer commentary following comments from economic policy and trade doyens....
Small businesses can launch or resume commercial activities with Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Guinea and Niger now that President Obama has restored trade preferences and other...
LONG a symbol of stagnation, the African continent is experiencing a reawakening. Poverty and hunger are still widespread problems, but Africa’s growing middle class is creating...
