The Foreign Service Journal, May 2004

Although the bill was touted as an unconditional extension of U.S. market access to Africa, it did require that an African coun- try be deemed eligible by the administration in accordance with a set of criteria embracing general notions of good gover- nance. (As of this writing, 38 African countries have been deemed eligible.) Additionally, to qualify for apparel benefits, coun- tries must have negotiated with the U.S. government a system that prevents transshipment of otherwise non-qualifying apparel. This system sets minimum stan- dards for customs enforcement and specifies a format under which all such exports are to be listed. (At this time, 17 countries have a qualifying anti-transshipment “visa” system in place.) Thanks to broad bipartisan support, the AGOA bill over- came the House of Repre- sentatives’ traditional resistance to trade bills in 1998. Unfor- tunately, the bill then died, in large part due to opposition from White House senior staff and the now-disbanded American Textile Manufacturers Institute. This was despite the fact that African apparel imports represented less than 1 percent of total U.S. imports. Undeterred by this defeat, early in 1999 Rep. Rangel (and his staffer Rosa Whitaker, who would later become the first assistant U.S. trade representative for Africa) and Rep. Crane enlisted powerful new allies: Rep. Ed Royce, F O C U S M A Y 2 0 0 4 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 45 Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has praised AGOA as the most important single development in African relations with the developed world since independence. COUNTRY 2001 2002 2003 Angola 3,095.9 3,122.7 4,264.3 Benin 1.3 0.7 0.6 Botswana 21.0 29.3 13.7 Burkina Faso 5.0 2.9 0.9 Burundi 2.8 0.7 5.9 Cameroon 101.6 172.1 214.0 Cape Verde 1.5 1.8 5.6 Central African Republic 2.4 2.0 2.0 Chad 5.7 5.7 22.4 Comoros 10.6 5.3 4.0 Congo 473.8 182.1 432.8 Congo, Dem. Rep. 154.0 204.1 174.5 Cote d’Ivoire 333.1 376.4 489.7 Djibouti 1.0 1.9 0.6 Equatorial Guinea 463.9 501.9 903.5 Eritrea 0.1 0.4 0.3 Ethiopia 29.1 25.7 30.5 Gabon 1,659.7 1,587.5 1,969.5 Gambia 0.5 0.3 0.1 Ghana 186.9 116.3 81.9 Guinea 87.8 71.6 69.2 Guinea-Bissau 0.0 0.0 1.9 Kenya 128.3 188.6 249.2 Lesotho 215.3 321.7 393.3 Liberia 42.6 45.8 59.5 COUNTRY 2001 2002 2003 Madagascar 271.6 215.8 383.7 Malawi 77.9 70.8 76.9 Mali 6.1 2.6 2.4 Mauritania 0.3 0.9 0.9 Mauritius 277.9 280.6 298.1 Mozambique 7.1 8.5 8.4 Namibia 37.3 57.4 123.2 Niger 4.6 0.9 4.0 Nigeria 8,774.8 5,945.4 10,393.6 Rwanda 7.2 3.1 2.6 Sao Tome & Principe 0.3 0.4 0.1 Senegal 103.8 3.6 4.5 Seychelles 23.7 26.3 13.0 Sierra Leone 4.6 3.8 6.5 Somalia 0.3 0.3 0.2 South Africa 4,432.6 4,034.1 4,637.6 Sudan 3.4 1.4 2.8 Swaziland 64.9 114.5 162.1 Tanzania 27.9 24.8 24.2 Togo 12.6 2.7 5.6 Uganda 17.7 15.3 34.9 Zambia 15.6 7.9 12.5 Zimbabwe 90.8 102.8 56.6 TOTAL 21,286.8 17,891.4 25,644.3 Source: U.S. Customs Service U.S. IMPORTS FROM SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA ($MILLIONS CUSTOMS VALUE)