Public Comment: African Trade Program Must Put People’s Wellbeing Before Corporate Interests
Administration’s Suggestion of New Terms on Critical Minerals Raises Alarm
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Public Citizen, along with the labor, environmental, consumer, faith, and family farm groups that make up the Citizens Trade Campaign (CTC) national coalition, submitted recommendations for the record in response to the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) request for public comment on the modernization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
AGOA is a long-running program authorized by Congress which gives sub-Saharan African countries preferential (tariff-free) access to the U.S. market for certain goods, if the countries comply with the eligibility criteria.
The CTC’s comment urges the eligibility criteria be updated to include strong labor, environmental and human rights standards. It also cautions against the changes to eligibility criteria that large corporate interests will likely seek: such as extreme intellectual property protections for pharmaceuticals, restrictions on regulation of Big Tech, and special access to critical minerals sites for U.S. mining companies.
Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“In this call for comments, the USTR inappropriately emphasized bilateral trade flows and increasing U.S. exports to African countries. Paired with the administration’s new obsession with “trade over aid,” there is a real danger of AGOA being swept up in Trump’s misguided focus on “reciprocal” trade.”
“This brings to mind the absurdity from last year, when President Trump announced “reciprocal” tariffs onto some of the poorest countries in the world, such as the preposterous 50% tariff initially announced for the tiny country of Lesotho. The goal should not be for each individual country, regardless of its size or level of development, to purchase enough U.S.-made products to have perfectly balanced trade.”
“Additionally, given the Trump administration’s callous approach to critical minerals abroad, it is alarming that the USTR specifically requested input on critical minerals in its call for comments on AGOA. Trump’s critical minerals deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) required the country to hand over its sovereignty, giving U.S. cabinet officials direct power over its mining sites and granting U.S. mining companies a “right of first offer” as well as special tax and regulatory breaks. And shocking reports that the State Department planned to withhold HIV/AIDS aid from Zambia in exchange for access to minerals led to the public resignation of the top scientist at the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).”
“Members of Congress – who are the ones who will actually write and pass future iterations of AGOA – should affirm that the United States will continue to provide unilateral preferential access to eligible African partners and reject any attempts by this administration to use AGOA as a tool for deregulation, corporate giveaways, or modern-day colonial resource grabs.”