Lesotho's trade minister said on Wednesday (24 September) that the U.S. plans to extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which gives the continent preferential access to U.S. markets, by a year, after returning from a visit to Washington.
A slew of tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump imposed on global trading partners on 4 April hit African countries hard. They were widely seen as the death knell for the quarter-century-old AGOA deal, putting millions of livelihoods at risk.
Lesotho initially got hit with the world's highest tariff of 50% on Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day' - ruinous for the tiny mountain kingdom's export-led development model, which was almost entirely dependent on textile factories selling jeans and T-shirts to the U.S.
Trump reduced it to 15% in August. A Lesotho trade delegation visited the U.S. from 15-19 September.
Minister of Trade, Industry and Business Development Mokhethi Shelile, who led the delegation, told a news conference late on Wednesday that they met U.S. officials.
"They all agreed that AGOA has to be extended and they promised us that by November or December [at] the latest, it will be extended by a year," Shelile said.
AGOA expires on 30 September and companies that benefit from it have warned that any delay in renewing it risked significant job losses and factory closures.
A spokesman for Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee said, "The Trump administration hasn't informed Finance Committee Democrats [of] its position on renewing AGOA. Ranking Member Wyden continues to support renewing the program."
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his cabinet on Friday (3 April) in a bid to contain a growing scandal over the alleged fraudule...
A parliamentary vote in Myanmar has elected junta chief Min Aung Hlaing as president, consolidating his grip on power five years after he ousted an...
One crew member from a U.S. warplane shot down over Iran has been rescued, U.S. officials said, as a search continues for a second crew member....
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz has hailed the growing importance of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS) am...
Across China, people are taking part in a wide range of activities to honour fallen heroes ahead of the Qingming Festival, a traditional time for r...
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his cabinet on Friday (3 April) in a bid to contain a growing scandal over the alleged fraudulent use of European Union farm subsidies.
One crew member from a U.S. warplane shot down over Iran has been rescued, U.S. officials said, as a search continues for a second crew member.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has sent a mid-level delegation to China for formal talks with Pakistan, as both sides meet in Urumqi amid efforts by Beijing to ease tensions between the neighbours.
Iran has strongly condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to bomb the country “back to the Stone Age”, calling his remarks an example of “war crimes and genocide.”
Fears of wider escalation grow despite President Donald Trump saying U.S. strikes on Iran could end within weeks. Meanwhile missile attacks, tanker incidents and rising casualties across Israel, Lebanon and the Gulf heighten risks to regional stability and energy routes.
Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China.
An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 struck in Indonesia's Northern Molucca Sea on Thursday, killing one person, damaging some buildings and triggering tsunami waves, authorities and witnesses said.
President Donald Trump staunchly defended his handling of the month-old U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in a prime-time address on Wednesday, saying the U.S. military was nearing completion of its mission while also reinforcing his threats to bomb the Islamic Republic back to the Stone Age.
One U.S. crew member has been rescued after Iran downed a warplane, while the search continues for a second. At the same time, Iran has officially told mediators it will not meet U.S. officials in Islamabad in the coming days, calling U.S. demands unacceptable, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reshuffled his cabinet on Friday (3 April) in a bid to contain a growing scandal over the alleged fraudulent use of European Union farm subsidies.
One crew member from a U.S. warplane shot down over Iran has been rescued, U.S. officials said, as a search continues for a second crew member.
Across China, people are taking part in a wide range of activities to honour fallen heroes ahead of the Qingming Festival, a traditional time for remembrance and paying respect to the deceased.
France and South Korea have agreed to strengthen defence ties and energy security cooperation following a two-day visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Seoul.
In a highly unusual move highlighting shifting narcotics diplomacy, the U.S. has handed over a Chinese fugitive accused of serious drug crimes to authorities in Beijing.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment