(BBC News)
Since it was initiated in 2000, the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) has done wonders for trade between America and Africa. Its proponents point to its successes: a 300% increase in trade and the creation of 300,000 African jobs.
But sceptics are more cautious. About 80% of all African exports come in the form of oil - something the US was never going to do without. And most of the non-oil exports come from a handful of southern African nations, which have boosted their clothing and textile trade with America.
Even these gains are now under threat. There is a plan before the Obama administration to expand the preferential trade terms in Agoa to other developing states. This is being fiercely resisted by Washington’s vocal African-American lobby.
This issue is critical, but so too is the question of American subsidies to its farmers. It undercuts African farmers, making it impossible for them to compete in international markets. But here the US has so far dug in its heels.
