Abstract
This essay examines the challenges and opportunities for regional trade lawmaking in the U.S.-Africa relationship. On the eve of the conclusion of an African continental free trade agreement, the U.S. trade law relationship with the continent remains focused on regional groups. Questions remain as to whether the existing trade law regime offers the flexibility necessary to accommodate alternative models to free trade agreements that may best serve the needs of African and U.S. constituencies. The essay proceeds in four parts. First, I sketch the current state of play in U.S.-Africa trade relations. Next, I outline how the U.S. and African approaches to trade lawmaking have differed. I then turn to two sets of challenges—one domestic and one international—that may impede innovation in developing a U.S.-Africa trade law relationship consistent with African interests. Finally, the essay concludes with an exploration of possible alternatives and issues not yet considered in the transcontinental dialogue on trade.
Highlights
Background on US.-Africa Trade RelationsOn May 5, 2017, the African Union Commission announced the conclusion of the latest round of negotiations toward a Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA)
The work to negotiate the CFTA comes as part of a larger continental initiative begun in the 1990s with the Abuja Treaty—an ambitious instrument setting out a roadmap toward a highly integrated African Economic Community, similar to the European Union, by 2028
U.S.-African economic relations are driven largely by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA),[1] which creates bilateral trading privileges between African countries and the United States, reducing tariffs and creating opportunities for African products in the U.S market where the exporting country is deemed eligible for such treatment
Summary
This essay examines the challenges and opportunities for regional trade lawmaking in the U.S.-Africa relationship. Alongside the TPP negotiations, the United States undertook negotiations toward a free trade agreement with the European Union called the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, with a view to creating a new era of deep and faster national regulatory alignment outside the World Trade Organization (WTO) It is unclear as yet where African regionalism fits in this trend. The United States has free trade agreements (FTAs) with twenty countries, including countries in North and South America, Northern Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Middle East Important for this analysis is that most those agreements have taken a similar form and contain similar content, especially in certain chapters, they have grown in length and scope over the last twenty years.
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