US cuts off Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea from Agoa initiative

Workers sew clothes inside the Indochine Apparel PLC textile factory in Hawassa Industrial Park in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples region, Ethiopia November 17, 2017. [Reuters, Standard]

The United States (US) on Saturday cut Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from access to a duty-free trade programme, following through on President Joe Biden's threat to do so over alleged human rights violations and recent coups.

"The US today terminated Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) trade preference programme due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the Agoa Statute," the US Trade Representative's office said in a statement.