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119-s-5486119th Congress

A bill to amend the African Growth and Opportunity Act to exclude from eligibility each sub-Saharan African country that does not effectively enforce its environmental laws and fulfill its international environmental obligations.

Sponsored By: Senator Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]

Introduced

Summary

Environmental enforcement as an AGOA eligibility condition. This bill would add a new requirement that qualifying sub‑Saharan African countries must effectively enforce their environmental laws and fulfill international environmental obligations, explicitly including obligations tied to public health.

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  • Communities in affected countries could see stronger incentives for environmental and public health protections because governments must show enforcement to keep AGOA trade benefits.
  • Exporters and firms in eligible countries could lose preferential access to U.S. markets if their government cannot demonstrate effective environmental law enforcement, putting trade-dependent businesses at risk.
  • U.S. trade policy and administration would treat the new requirement as an additional eligibility criterion and link its start to the date the President designates a country, not to an older enactment date, changing the timing of when compliance matters for eligibility.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

1 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

AGOA benefits require environmental enforcement

This bill would add a new rule to the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Each sub‑Saharan African country would need to effectively enforce its environmental laws and meet international environmental obligations, including those tied to public health. If a country did not meet that test, it could lose AGOA trade benefits. The bill would also change the timing rule so eligibility is judged based on the date the President makes an AGOA designation.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]

RI • D

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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