Nigeria-United States Trade Relations Under African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) (2000-2018): Interrogating the Trends and Issues

Abstract:

International trade relations between Nigeria and U.S. are strategic because the former is the largest economy among the Sub-Sahara African countries (SSA) that are a party to the U.S. AGOA initiative. But while the aggregate study of the impact of U.S trade relations with SSA countries is replete in the literature, a country-by-country study to examine in detail the individual state peculiarities effects on the interaction, more importantly looking beyond the preferential regime is missing. Therefore, this study interrogates the trends and issues emanating from the Nigeria-U.S. trade agreement with its implications for the post-AGOA era. Using factor endowment theory as a framework, the work explores credible secondary data sources alongside recent reports and studies to prosecute the research. It discovers that U.S. oil import from Nigeria dominates as the commodity for trade intensity excluding agriculture and manufactures products, making the trading to be imbalanced and deprived of mutual benefit. The study hence suggests that Nigeria should transform her political, education and socio-economic environment for proper positioning for maximization of her potentials both for AGOA and beyond U.S. trade partnership while the U.S. is to take deliberate steps toward ensuring sincerity of her interest in growing African economy amongst others.