The 14-year-old US preferential trade programme for Africa could be reshaped as the Obama administration drafts recommendations for renewal of the initiative.

Florizelle Liser, the top US trade official for Africa, told a Washington forum that the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) could be transformed into a set of free-trade agreements with specific countries and regional groupings.

Once the US and European Union conclude a current round of negotiations, Africa will be the only part of the world without a free-trade agreement with the US, Ms Liser said.

The programme, which faces a September 2015 expiration date, allows almost all products exported by eligible African nations to enter the US market duty-free.
Ms Liser said “Today’s Africa is very different from when Agoa was launched.”

The initiative should be modified to reflect those differences, she suggested. Agoa, as it exists now, has proved a disappointment to many of its architects.

The law was conceived partly as a means to spur growth of domestic industries in Africa, particularly in the textile sector. That has not happened to a significant degree.

A study published recently by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development noted modest gains in textile production in a few African countries, such as Kenya, in the years following implementation of Agoa.

As it is, textiles and clothing account for only two per cent of African exports to the US.

Eligibility for Agoa is currently determined by African countries’ compliance with US criteria covering economic policy, trade and investment standards, governance, commitment to development, and labour conditions.