US cuts off Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea from duty-free trade programme
Coups and accusations of human rights abuses lead to countries’ exclusion from economic pact

The US has blocked Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from having access to its duty-free trade programme with Africa over alleged human rights abuses and recent coups.
President Joe Biden said in November that Ethiopia would be cut off from the trade pact provided under the US African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA, owing to alleged human rights abuses in the Tigray region, while Mali and Guinea were removed due to recent coups.
The suspension of benefits threatens Ethiopia’s textile industry, which supplies global fashion brands, and the country’s nascent hopes of becoming a light manufacturing centre.
It also piles more pressure on an economy reeling from the conflict, the coronavirus pandemic and high inflation.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change in governments in both Guinea and Mali, and by the gross violations of internationally recognised human rights being perpetrated by the government of Ethiopia and other parties amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia,” the US Trade Representative’s office said on Saturday.
Comments are closed.