The proposed ban of second-hand clothing across the East African Community has received enormous support at the ongoing review of the Bloc’s eligibility to trade with the United States under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
The review which started last month, in Washington D.C, is in response to a petition filed by the Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART), an association of textile companies from the United States. SMART argues that the decision by the East African Community (EAC) to ban imports of used clothing and footwear is imposing significant economic hardship on the United States’ used clothing industry.
EAC member countries resolved to outlaw the importation of used clothes and shoes across the East African Region by 2019. The resolution is part of the industrialization policy fostered by the various East African Heads of State to transform the manufacturing sector in member states.
But the petitioners argue that the ban directly contradicts requirements that African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) that beneficiaries work towards eliminating ‘barriers to United States trade and investment’ and promote ‘economic policies to reduce poverty’.
SMART Executive Director, Jackie King said that the association seeks the reversal of the ban and the roll back of the increase in duties in EAC member nations. The Association estimates that the implementation of the duties by EAC countries led to a loss of 5,000 jobs in the private sector of the U.S. used clothing industry and the loss of another 19,000 in the not-for-profit sector.
URN
Please lets keep the second hand businesses going on and we still do Agoa cause we are so many in africa that we cant aford to loose either.