Impacts and benefits of the 2015 Extension and Enhancement Act
Introduction
Thesis: The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) expired in September 2015. The United States and African leaders explored the ways to improve the 14-year old legislation to make it more well-suited with the changing economic landscape in Africa. AGOA provides about 6,500 African products with preferential quota and duty-free access to the US market. The Act was renewed, enhanced and extended to 10 years by an act of Congress through AGOA Extension and Enhancement Act of 2015. However, the question becomes, what is the potential impact of the enhanced legislation? Will the new improved legislation provide certainty for African producers and U.S. buyers regarding access to the U.S. market and sends a strong signal that Americans can and should invest with assurance in Africa?
This paper explores (1) the legislation background of AGOA. What is AGOA? When and how it emanated into law (2) AGOA eligibility criteria (3) Benefits of AGOA. (4) Impacts and advantages of the 2015 Extension and Enhancement Act. (5) AGOA’s limitation and its …show more content…
Also, the amendment extended the third country fabric provision and provided additional Congressional regulation on how to manage the textile provisions of the bill. On December 20, 2006, the Africa Investment Incentive Act of 2006 further amended portions of AGOA known as "AGOA IV." The legislation strengthened the third country fabric provision in adding an abundant supply provision that defined certain denim articles as being in abundant supply. Also, the amendment allowed lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries export certain textile articles under