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GAO-14-722R 1 (2014-07-21)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaaidf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 July 21, 2014 Congressional Requesters African Growth and Opportunity Act: Observations on Competitiveness and Diversification of U.S. Imports from Beneficiary Countries The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), signed into law in 2000,1 is a U.S. trade preference program intended to stimulate economic development through export-led growth and help integrate Africa into the global economy.2 AGOA allows eligible Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to export qualifying goods to the United States without import duties.3 Prior U.S. government reports have indicated that integrating SSA countries into the global economy will require greater competitiveness of their exports. In addition, as we reported in 2008, an important goal of trade preferences is to help developing countries diversify the range of products that they export, and preferences are of little use in countries lacking the ability to produce goods desired by importers. We were requested to examine a number of issues relating to AGOA countries' trade expansion and economic development, and factors affecting their trade with the United States and other countries. This report is the first in a series responding to the request and provides our observations on AGOA countries' trade expansion as shown by import competitiveness and diversification. This report also formally transmits the information we provided to congressional staff on July 14, 2014 (see encl. I). 1AGOA was originally enacted as Pub. L. No. 106-200, May 18, 2000. Since its enactment, AGOA has been amended three times, by Pub. L. No. 107-210, August 6, 2002; Pub. L. No. 108-274, July 12, 2004; and Pub. L. No. 109-432, December 20, 2006. 2Trade preference programs offer unilateral tariff reductions to eligible developing countries for the import of specified products into the United States. AGOA authorizes the President to designate countries as eligible to receive AGOA program benefits if they are determined to have established, or are making continual progress toward establishing, the following: market-based economies; the rule of law and political pluralism; elimination of barriers to U.S. trade and investment; protection of intellectual property; efforts to combat corruption; policies to reduce poverty and increase availability of health care and educational opportunities; protection of human rights and worker rights; and elimination of certain child labor practices. 3We defined AGOA countries as the group of 40 countries that were eligible for the AGOA trade preference program as of January 2014. The 40 AGOA countries included in this report are Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Cote d'lvoire, Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. GAO-14-722R AGOA Trade Expansion Page 1

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