U.S. President Donald Trump extends, for an additional year, Ethiopia’s ineligibility for the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) — a preferential trade arrangement granting countries in sub-Saharan Africa with duty-free access to the U.S. market.
On September 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14046, “to deal with the situation in and in relation to northern Ethiopia, which has been marked by activities that threaten the peace, security, and stability of Ethiopia and the greater Horn of Africa region … and constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” In short, Executive Order 14046 deemed Ethiopia ineligible for AGOA privileges, effective January 1, 2022.
In extending Executive Order 14046, President Trump declares, the situation in and in relation to northern Ethiopia continues to pose a national security and foreign policy threat to the United States. “For this reason, the national emergency declared in Executive Order 14046 of September 17, 2021, must continue in effect beyond September 17, 2025.” Consequently, Ethiopia’s ineligibility will continue for an additional year until September 17, 2026.
In addition to the two-year civil war in northern Ethiopia (2020-2022), since May 2023, the Abiy Ahmed regime has been conducting a war of aggression on Ethiopia’s Amhara region — replete with war crimes and gross human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and drone strikes targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
These war crimes and gross human rights violations have been detailed in the U.S. State Department’s latest human rights report on Ethiopia.
The importance of AGOA, in providing manufacturers in Ethiopia with tariff-free access to the U.S. market and creating employment opportunities for Ethiopians, cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, the Abiy regime’s ceaseless military adventurism, war crimes, and gross human rights violations — conducted at the expense of Ethiopia’s socioeconomic growth and development, including its once promising manufacturing sector — has proven to be a strategic blunder.
At the same time, the Abiy regime, which made requests to the Trump administration for AGOA reinstatement, has failed in its efforts — further demonstrating the regime’s ineffectual foreign policy.
Ethiopian Policy Institute 