Cameroon to Exit AGOA on Jan. 1
President Donald Trump announced Oct. 31 that Cameroon will no longer qualify for the African Growth and Opportunity Act tariff preference program at the beginning of next year, because of extra-judicial killings, unlawful detention and torture by its military. Cameroon only exported $3.58 million in goods to the U.S. last year; it's unknown how much of that volume entered under AGOA, but about 48 percent of all sub-Saharan African imports are covered by AGOA. Overall, AGOA non-oil imports were $4.3 billion in 2017.
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Deputy U.S. Trade Representative C.J. Mahoney said, “This action underscores the Administration’s commitment to upholding the human rights criteria as required in the AGOA legislation. We urge the government of Cameroon to work with the United States and the international community to strengthen protection of human rights under the law and to publicly hold to account those who engage in human rights violations.”