- US to Africa: Buy our dirty clothes (pictured) or face sanctions.
26 Aug 2021 – (EP) The outrageous US government officially informed Ethiopian Prime Minster Abiy that Ethiopia risks being removed from the AGOA eligibility list due to “atrocities” against civilians in Tigray.
For the record, the federal government has withdrawn from Tigray for humanitarian reasons two months ago.
The US government warning came despite the terrorist TPLF group’s illegal invasion to Amhara and Afar regional states and executing able-bodied men and indiscriminate shelling.
The Biden administration cautioned Prime Minster Abiy to end the war against the terrorist group or “lose hundreds of millions of in US trade”.
For your information, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a United States Trade Act, enacted in 2000. The legislation supposes to enhance market access to the US for qualifying Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.
Eritrea is the only country banned from joining the free trade. No surprise there. Recently, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda were told they might lose eligibility for duty-free clothing exports to the US market if they decide to stop the import of USED clothes (pictured) from the United States, despite the three countries argued last that the ban was key to their efforts to develop domestic clothing manufacturing industries.
Ethiopia became eligible to benefit from AGOA in 2000. A year later, Ethiopia’s textile visa program was approved, enabling qualifying Ethiopian-made apparel eligible to enter the United States duty-free. Ethiopia also qualified to use third-country (non-U.S., non-sub-Saharan Africa) fabric to make apparel for duty-free export.