China hopes rise for Ethiopia after US pulls duty-free export deal over Tigray atrocities

Ethiopian items have been struck off list of African products allowed tariff-free entry to the US market

As the US withdraws, Chinese importers and investors can and will fill the gap, observer says

Reading Time:5 minutes

Women working in Ethiopian factories are expected to be hardest hit by the US export curbs. Photo: AP

Published: 6:00am, 21 Feb 2022

Sammy Abdella and his more than 100 employees and associates in Addis Ababa have had a terrible start to the year. Since January 1, they have not been able to export their apparel to the US, their biggest market for the past decade – because duty-free shipments from Ethiopia are no longer allowed.

“The last shipment we did was in December before the delisting,” said Abdella, owner of Addis Ababa-based home decor and fashion company Sammy Ethiopia.

Ethiopian textiles and apparel had long enjoyed duty-free access to the American market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000 (Agoa), which covered more than 6,500 products from eligible African nations.

But on New Year’s Eve, President Joe Biden’s administration dropped Ethiopia from the lucrative trade deal, citing abuses and atrocities committed in its war-ravaged northern Tigray region.

For Abdella’s 70 full-time and part-time workers, and 120 outsourced artisans supplying the production line – the news hit hard.

The effect would be devastating for many Ethiopians, especially young female workers at factories that were exporting under Agoa, Abdella said. “Some factories have closed down and some are trying to figure out where and how to shift their production export market.”