Annual Review of Country Eligibility for Benefits Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is announcing the initiation of the annual review of the eligibility of the sub-Saharan African countries to receive the benefits of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The AGOA Implementation Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (Subcommittee) is developing recommendations for the President on AGOA country eligibility for calendar year 2020. The Subcommittee requests comments for this review and will conduct a public hearing on this matter.

Section 104 of AGOA includes requirements that the country has established or is making continual progress toward establishing, among other things:

• A market-based economy
• the rule of law
• political pluralism
• the right to due process
• the elimination of barriers to U.S. trade and investment
• policies to reduce poverty
• system to combat corruption and bribery
• of internationally recognized worker rights

In addition, the country may not engage in activities that undermine U.S. national security or foreign policy interests or engage in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights. Section 502 of the 1974 Act provides for country eligibility criteria under GSP. For a complete list of the AGOA eligibility criteria and more information on the GSP criteria, see section 104 of the AGOA and section 502 of the 1974 Act.

For 2019, the President designated the following 39 countries as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries:

1. Angola
2. Benin
3. Botswana
4. Burkina Faso
5. Cabo Verde
6. Cameroon
7. Central African Republic
8. Chad
9. Comoros
10. Republic of Congo
11. Cote d'Ivoire
12. Djibouti
13. Eswatini
14. Ethiopia
15. Gabon
16. The Gambia
17. Ghana
18. Guinea
19. Guinea-Bissau
20. Kenya
21. Lesotho
22. Liberia
23. Madagascar
24. Malawi
25. Mali
26. Mauritius
27. Mozambique
28. Namibia
29. Niger
30. Nigeria
31. Rwanda (AGOA apparel benefits suspended effective July 31, 2018)
32. Sao Tome & Principe
33. Senegal
34. Sierra Leone
35. South Africa
36. Tanzania
37. Togo
38. Uganda
39. Zambia

The President did not designate following sub-Saharan African countries as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for 2019:

1. Burundi
2. Democratic Republic of Congo
3. Equatorial Guinea (graduated from GSP)
4. Eritrea
5. Mauritania
6. Seychelles (graduated from GSP)
7. Somalia
8. South Sudan
9. Sudan
10. Zimbabwe

The Subcommittee is seeking public comments to develop recommendations to the President in connection with the annual review of sub-Saharan African countries' eligibility for AGOA benefits. The Secretary of Labor may consider comments related to the child labor criteria to prepare the U.S. Department of Labor's report on child labor as required under section 504 of the 1974 Act.