Strengthening the Future of US—Africa Trade and Business Relations

Abstract

There exists enormous potential for increasing business relations between the USA and Africa, across a number of strategic sectors, especially agriculture, ICT, high-tech manufacturing, fintech, health, textile and digital economy. In view of this, Africa is geo-strategically repositioning itself as companies are gradually shifting production out of China partly due to the ongoing U.S.-China trade wars. Based on this background, the purpose of this article is to discuss the pressing issues and opportunities for fostering U.S.-Africa trade relations, and how to effectively leverage the remaining six years of US-Africa AGOA space in this digital era. Another component to the argument is that multiparty trade agreements yield optimal economic and geopolitical benefits, and several megatrade agreements that do not include the USA that are ongoing on the continent. It is hoped that this chapter will also provoke some thoughts towards dialoguing and contributing to the development of robust policies and programs in the face of changes that lie ahead for the U.S.-Africa relations.