U.S. cuts off Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea from Africa duty-free trade program
The Hindu
Mali and Guinea were targeted due to recent coups.
The United States on Saturday blocked Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from access to a duty-free trade program, following through on President Joe Biden's threat to do so over human rights violations and recent coups.
"The United States today terminated Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from the AGOA trade preference program due to actions taken by each of their governments in violation of the AGOA Statute," the U.S. Trade Representative's office said in a statement.
President Joe Biden warned in November that Ethiopia would be cut off from the AGOA duty-free trading regime due to alleged human rights violations in the Tigray region, while Mali and Guinea were targeted due to recent coups.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.