ARUSHA, TANZANIA – The East African Community (EAC), is pushing for a long-term preferential trade agreement with the United States to eliminate the fear of unilateral withdrawal of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by the Federal government.
Trade  between the EAC and the US reached $2.8 billion in 2014. The US exported $2 billion worth of goods ,but only imported $743 million in items. EAC believes the limitation of AGOA is that it is unilateral and can be withdrawn anytime. This year the US extended the AGOA up to September 30, 2025, but the EAC thinks that this span of 10 years is insufficient for increasing trade volume by leaps and bounds.
Hence, the EAC recently submitted its plea to Michael Froman, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) on the modus operandi and the time to begin negotiations on the pact. According to sources, the Community is looking for a trade partnership similar to the one it shares with EU.
This provides protection against undue competition. The EAC also believes it has not been able to utilise the US quota-free market under AGOA since the agreement does not match the World Trade Organization’s structure for free trade agreements due to its 10-years duration of operations.

Source: East African Business Week

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