When was agoa passed

Until then, U. During the last 12 years, moreover, AGOA has both contributed to and benefited from the many transformative trends in Africa. One of the most significant of these trends has been the increase in democratic governance.

The liberation of the states of the Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe from communism after the fall of the Berlin Wall in also created a demand for greater accountability and governance in many African nations.

As Steve Radelet notes in Emerging Africa , the number of democracies in Sub-Saharan Africa has increased from 3 to 23 within the last 25 years. A second major trend is related to economic growth. The s were a lost decade for Africa as far as economic growth was concerned.

The growth of these non-oil industries has spurred an estimated , direct jobs in beneficiary countries. Trade, infrastructure and development go hand-in-hand in helping to achieve widespread and lasting reductions in poverty.

The three largest destinations for U. Sub-Saharan Africa foreign direct investment in the U. Central African Republic. AGOA has had important successes, but improvements need to be made to the programme. Some countries, such as South Africa, have benefited significantly. Apparel exports from other countries, such as Lesotho, Ethiopia, Mauritius, eSwatini and Kenya, have also created a similar number of jobs.

These apparel exports are important not only for the jobs created but for the labels that say Made in Mauritius, Made in Lesotho and Made in Kenya, for example. When apparel from AGOA-exporting countries are found by American consumers in their favorite stores next to clothing from Canada and Mexico, not to mention China, they begin to think about African nations as reliable and cost-effective suppliers to American households.

Yet other important benefits have been generated by AGOA. It put trade and investment at the centre of the US-Africa relationship, which the Trump administration is trying to deepen through its Prosper Africa initiative. Passage of the legislation also created an enduring bipartisan consensus between Democrats and Republicans in Congress, based on the recognition that the US has interests in Africa worth investing in.