The African Growth and Opportunity Act under which the U.S. offered duty-free access for nearly all goods produced in the 35 nations of sub-Saharan Africa was passed one year ago this month.
What have been the results in this short period of time?
Far from displacing American workers, the act allowed U.S. exports of products such as aircraft, machinery, autos and wheat to sub-Saharan Africa for the first three months of this year to rise 23 percent compared to the same period last year.
Opening up trade not only benefits workers in the countries concerned, it also helps American consumers, trade experts point out. In fact, the gains in higher income and lower prices from America’s two big trade agreements in the 1990s NAFTA and the Uruguay Round saved the average American family of four between $1,300 and $2,000 a year.
Source: Robert B. Zoellick (U.S. trade representative), Trade Helps Africans Help Themselves, Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2001.
For text (for WSJ subscribers)
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB990578526844549083.htm
For more on Free Trade Agreements http://www.ncpa.org/pi/internat/intdex12.html
