United States Kicks Uganda Out of the AGOA Trade Pact.

Uganda: after being removed from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) by US President Joe Biden the nation has got to find substitute strategies to fill the close to UGX.40 billion in export revenue lost as a result of the termination. 

In October 2023, US President Joe Biden announced intention to exclude Uganda from the AGOA on human rights violation claims.

In November 2023, The United Statessaid it was cutting Uganda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)from January 2024.

Mr. Museveni, Uganda’s president took to social media after the announcement by the US in 2023 to exclude the nation from this trade pact due to human rights violation, to mention that the United States government had overestimated its value to Uganda.

Among the other African nations that were to be cut out from the pact was Gabon, Niger and Central African Republic (CAR).

One of the perks of being a part of the AGOA program being duty-free access of over 6,000 into the world’s largest economy for sub-Saharan African countries that meet democratic criteria, which are assessed on a yearly basis to the US market Uganda was placed in a position to lose close to 40Billion Ugandan Shillings in export revenue to the US.

 US President Joe Biden made mention in a letter to congress that both the governments of Uganda and CAR had “engaged in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights”.

Many rights groups have criticized Uganda since the adoption of the harsh anti-gay law in May last year including the United Nations and other powers from the West.

However, after the first announcement by the US government to cut Uganda out of the trade pact, President Museveni made a bold statement on X (formerly twitter) in which he told the nationals of Uganda not to be troubled by the actions of the US in excluding their country from the AGOA pact.

“Some of these actors in the Western world overestimate themselves and underestimate the freedom fighters of Africa” President Museveni. (On x, formerly Twitter)

Amidst the controversy of the legislation, the President’s senior aide Mr. O. Rwabwogo had earlier made warnings about the negative impact the decision would have on the Ugandan farmers and small business owners.

               “While Ugandan trade through AGOA was insubstantial, growth of our exports to the US and other partners was an important pillar of our economic strategy going forward” Mr. Rwabwogo.

After the World Bank announced suspension of loans to Uganda in August last year, Mr. Museveni accused the world bank of using money to "coerce” the government to drop the legislation.

In December 2023, a confirmation communication statement from the US trade representative in which Uganda-made products are to be locked out of the preferential treatment on the US market was made.

               “I have determined that the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger and Uganda do not meet the requirements described in section 506A(a)(1) of the Trade Act. Accordingly, I have decided to terminate the designations of the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger and Uganda as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for purposes of section 506A of the Trade Act, effective January 1, 2024” an excerpt of the statement read.

Since tapping into the AGOA Uganda has benefited from the programmer’s-free access to the US market and seen an increase in the nations export revenue from Shs 4 billion in 2019 to 39Billion in 2022 in textiles and agricultural products.

The nation will have to tap into other markets to make up for this revenue that is now lost. Despite the negative impacts like loss of jobs in the labor-intensive industries such as textile, the trade ministry in Uganda is confident that the nation will bounce back.

Exclusion from AGOA is one of the many restrictions and sanctions on top of the travel bans and restrictions of some top officials as well as aid cuts plastered onto Uganda having adopted the Anti-Homosexuality Act in May 2023.

The nation’s President, Mr. Yoweri K Museveni continues to urge Ugandans not to worry while standing for what they believe in.

In a national Christmas message Mr. Museveni said, “The pressures we are getting from outside about the homosexuality law, some of the people may be worried but me I’m not worried at all. This is because this an opportunity to clarify one point that Uganda can stand on its own and some of us are indigenous people of this area, this is our area for the last 1,000 years. We have been active here, the Europeans came for a short period and went, our communities are very strong.”

President Museveni continues to assure Ugandans that the economy of the nation isn’t going downward but rather just growing and citing Pan-Africanism in his message adding, “I would advise those putting us under pressure to stop because it is not good for them, we shall prove our point that African countries can stand on their own.”