Proposal for a Council Decision establishing the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the General Council of the WTO on the United States’ request for a WTO waiver to extend the AGOA program (AGOA)

The objective of this proposal is to establish the position to be taken by the European Union within the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the United States' request for a renewal of its WTO waiver and thus allow the European Union to support this waiver request.

The granting of the US request for a renewal of the WTO waiver would allow the US to continue providing duty-free treatment to eligible products originating in beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries designated pursuant to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) up to 30 September 2025.

AGOA's objective is to alleviate poverty and promote stability and sustainable economic development in sub-Saharan Africa by fostering increased trade and investment between the US and the beneficiary countries. AGOA is also intended to encourage regional economic integration and help beneficiary countries participate more fully in the global economy.

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)464: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:464:FIN

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