WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — The Biden administration officially removed Uganda from an African trade deal last month, less than a year after the conservative nation passed a strict anti-sodomy law.
On December 29, 2023, the White House issued a “Proclamation to Take Certain Actions Under the African Growth and Opportunity Act [AGOA] and For Other Purposes,” which effectively removed a number of nations that have resisted the push from the West to embrace the LGBT agenda.
“The President initially designated the Central African Republic, the Gabonese Republic (Gabon), Republic of Niger (Niger), and the Republic of Uganda (Uganda) as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries,” the proclamation states. “The Trade Act provides that the President shall terminate the designation of a country as a beneficiary… if the President determines that the country is not meeting the requirements.”
Citing this stipulation, the notoriously pro-LGBT President Joe Biden wrote that he had “determined that the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda do not meet the requirements.”
“Accordingly,” he continued. “I have decided to terminate the designations of the Central African Republic, Gabon, Niger, and Uganda as beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries for the purposes of section 506A of the Trade Act, effective January 1, 2024.”
The proclamation comes just under two months after the Biden administration hinted at plans to remove the four African nations from the AGOA. At the time, the White House said the decision was related to what it described as a failure to diversify in politics and accept “internationally recognized human rights.”
Uganda was particularly scrutinized for unspecified “human rights” abuses. The November letter suggesting the nation’s removal from the trade deal came more than six months after the Ugandan government passed a strict anti-sodomy law, signed by President Yoweri Museveni, that penalizes homosexual behavior. The law has been continuously criticized by the left-wing Biden administration.
Although the Central African Republic does not have the same legal ramifications for homosexuality, its law does forbid public acts of homosexuality.
Gabon and Niger, however, were removed from the AGOA due to coups that have led to military leadership in their nations, which disqualifies them from the trade deal.
The African trade program allows eligible countries to benefit from almost 2,000 products in the United States market duty-free. The AGOA runs on reciprocal economic actions from participating nations, with sole determination on eligibility left to the Biden administration.
Requirements to be eligible beneficiaries include stipulations that nations make “continual progress” in the areas of “market-based economy, the rule of law, political pluralism and the right to due process,” as well as “enact[ing] policies to reduce poverty, combat corruption and protect human rights.”
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