US Expels Uganda from Trade Deal over Human Rights Violations

The US has announced that it will remove Uganda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade preference program that grants duty-free access to thousands of products from eligible African countries.

In a statement issued on December, 2023, the US Trade Representative said that President Joe Biden had decided to terminate the designations of Uganda, the Central African Republic, Gabon, and Niger as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for purposes of AGOA, effective January 1, 2024.

The statement cited human rights violations as the reason for the termination, without giving specific details. However, in October 2023, Biden notified the Congress of his intention to expel Uganda from AGOA over the adoption of the Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2023, which he called “retrogressive.”.

The termination of Uganda from AGOA will have significant economic implications for the East African country, which had seen its exports to the US grow from Shs4 billion in 2019 to Shs39 billion in 2022, mainly from textiles and agricultural products.

The trade ministry of Uganda had expressed hope that the country would find alternative markets to compensate for the loss of revenue but also appealed to the US to reconsider its decision.

Meanwhile, President Yoweri Museveni has downplayed the impact of the US action, saying that Uganda can prosper on its own and that the country has been active in the region for over 1,000 years.

He also advised the US to stop putting pressure on Uganda over the homosexuality law, saying that it is not good for them, and that Uganda will prove its point that African countries can stand on their own.