Business
The U.S. and Africa Must Be Equal Partners
THN: Thank you for taking the time to discuss the ideal trade and investment partnership between the U.S. and Africa. So, what would Stephen
Hayes call an ideal partnership?
SH: It is going to be very hard to even talk about an ideal partnership between the U.S. and Africa simply because you are not dealing with one African entity. What you have is a diversity of countries at different stages of economic development. But, if we want to make progress, we must look into far greater access for African agricultural products in the U.S. market.
If you have a significant percentage of a population engaged in agriculture, then AGOA or any other trade policy is not going to work or impact much
unless it is addressing the immense potential and population. Also, we all must realize that we are not working at the same level. There’s always going to be the need for capacity building. There must also be some infrastructure development. From the U.S. side, you cannot complain about Africa not using AGOA if they do not have adequate power supply or the infrastructure in place, or even a fully trained workforce. So, if these considerations are not integrated into any trade policy, they must, at the very least, be parallel to any effort with Africa because, ultimately, the Africans themselves must benefit from AGOA.
THN: Let’s discuss, if you may, the outlines of an ideal partnership. You mentioned agriculture and so, let us break it down.
SH: For the record, I am not necessarily talking about Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) products. I mean the whole gamut! TRQs are still limited, as I understand it. But we must talk about the stuff that Africa produces in terms of agriculture – sugar, cotton, groundnuts, tobacco, rice and other things.
THN: But how does one deal with the agricultural lobbies, for instance? They are so powerful.
SH: I guess that’s the point. I agree that dealing with lobby groups is going to be especially difficult. But this relationship with Africa is something that must be improved even if we are going against a large group of lobbyists for farmers and corporations. There’s another side to the argument, and Congress is going to have to deal with it because on the other side is the opportunity to open up a far stronger relationship with 54 different nations. This very relationship could even go a long way in solving domestic problems like the shrinking middle class in America. The more access we have to Africa’s agricultural products, the better it will be for consumers through lower prices. If we have a lobby that keeps out the competition, then they also keep prices up. This is in the interest of the American people, although not necessarily in the interest of the individual companies.
THN: Can you tell me, in your words, why Africa is of importance to the United States?
