USTR cites progress with U.S.-Nigerian trade

USTR cites progress with U.S.-Nigerian trade    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative this week hosted its sixth meeting of the U.S.-Nigeria Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council.
   The meeting's objective was to discuss ongoing cooperation in the World Trade Organization, implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, market access, intellectual property rights, and improving bilateral investment between the two countries.
   The USTR said, 'Nigeria has made progress in liberalizing its trade regime and making it more transparent.'
   In October 2008, the Nigerian government removed import bans on several products of interest to the United States, including corn, wheat flour, crude vegetable oil and several other food and consumer products. The African country also reduced tariffs on many products and streamlined its system of tariffs by placing all import tariffs into five broad categories, the USTR said.
   According to the USTR, Nigeria is the United States' 14th-largest goods trading partner with $42.2 billion in two-way goods trade in 2008, an 18 percent increase over 2007. U.S. exports to Nigeria totaled $4.1 billion in 2008, up 47 percent from the previous year, and included vehicles, machinery, and wheat. U.S. imports from Nigeria were valued at $38.1 billion in 2008, up 16 percent over the previous year, and included petroleum, organic chemicals, cocoa and rubber.