Duty-free benefits for Rwandan apparel suspended

The action comes as the country maintains a policy raising tariffs on such products to 1,000 percent.    Effective Tuesday, the United States is suspending duty-free treatment of apparel goods from Rwanda pursuant to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), President Donald Trump announced in a proclamation on Monday.
   Rwanda has maintained a policy raising tariffs on imports of used apparel and footwear by more than 1,000 percent, effectively banning such imports, after other members of the East African Community — Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda — worked with the U.S. and acted to revise an EAC policy established in 2015 to ban imports of used clothing and footwear, starting in 2019, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in a statement.
   The ban affects about $1.5 million in imports in 2017 value and accounts for about 3 percent of Rwanda’s exports to the United States, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative C.J. Mahoney noted in a statement.
   “We regret this outcome and hope it is temporary,” Mahoney said. “But if the AGOA eligibility criteria are to have any meaning, they have to be enforced — particularly where, as here, other AGOA members took action in order remain in compliance. The president’s action today is measured and proportional.”