Africa and The Middle East

Brady: “I urge everyone involved to enhance those efforts to make the most of the next eight years.”

The USTR will head to Togo for an AGOA forum titled “the United States and Africa: Partnering for Prosperity through Trade.”

A group of retail industry trade associations -- as well as the East African Community, Uganda, and the African Cotton & Textile Industry Federation -- are charging that USTR's out-of-cycle review of Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda’s compliance with obligations under the African Growth and Opportunity Act is either unwarranted or should not result in those countries losing their AGOA benefits.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative will initiate an out-of-cycle review of the eligibility of Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda for trade preferences provided under the African Growth and Opportunity Act as a result of a petition arguing the countries' ban on imports of secondhand clothing and footwear violates requirements they must meet to receive and maintain AGOA benefits.

The Trump administration is considering whether to proceed with other Section 232 national security trade investigations, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday, while making the case that a 232 investigation into aluminum imports has important national security angles.

While structural conditions suggest that South Africa will have to boost poultry imports in the short term, U.S. exporters have little chance to capitalize due to a 65,000 metric ton tariff-rate quota that the two countries agreed to in resolving a clash over U.S. meat exports and South Africa's benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, according to a study by the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.