USTR Greer Expresses Skepticism on AGOA Renewal
At a luncheon July 9 with the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau, President Donald Trump was asked by a reporter if he supported a renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, so that it doesn't end in September.
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Trump said only, "We'll take a look at that," and then let U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer field the question.
"That's up to Congress to take a first crack at," Greer said, immediately adding that although AGOA has existed for 25 years, "the end result of that we see a lot of other countries operating in Africa, we still see a lot of tariffs and non-tariff-barriers in Africa. So any discussion of that act would also have to think about how we address those kinds of barriers."
A reporter also told Trump that China allows duty-free imports from nearly all African countries, and asked him what that meant for U.S. commercial relations on the continent. Trump said the U.S. treats Africa better than China does.