Ambassador Schwab Signs Historic Trade Agreement with the Countries of the Southern African Customs Union

July 16, 2008, WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab today signed the very first Trade, Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement (TIDCA) with the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) in an official ceremony with SACU Trade Ministers from Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa.

BACKGROUND:

The United States and SACU launched FTA negotiations in 2003, which were suspended in April 2006, largely due to divergent views on the scope and level of ambition for the agreement. In November 2006, the United States and SACU agreed to pursue a new type of agreement – a TIDCA – that could enhance the U.S.-SACU trade and investment relationship in the short-term and help lead the United States and SACU to a possible FTA in the longer term.

SACU is the United States’ largest non-oil trading partner in Sub-Saharan Africa with bilateral trade valued at $15.8 billion in 2007. SACU is also the largest beneficiary of the AGOA, with AGOA imports valued at $2.9 billion, including a wide-range of goods such as automobiles, minerals and metals, diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, transportation equipment, footwear, textiles, and apparel.