U.S. cuts off Ethiopia, Mali, Guinea from Africa duty-free trade programme

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The United States yesterday cut Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from access to a duty-free trade program, following through on President Joe Biden's threat to do so over alleged 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.

Biden said in November that Ethiopia https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-conflicttrade-idCAKBN2HN1QQ would be cut off from the duty-free trading regime provided under the U.S. African Growth and

Opportunity Act (AGOA) due to alleged human rights violations in the

Tigray region, while Mali and Guinea were targeted due to recent coups.