Data from the US Department of Commerce reveal that Ghana's exports to the US went up by 21.5% last year.From US$158m in 2005, total exports from Ghana to the U.S. recorded a value of US$192m last year. Trade between the two countries however fell by 9.9 percent from US$535m in 2005 to US$482m.This was caused wholly by decreases in U.S. exports to Ghana which fell by 13.9 percent to US$290m last year, while Ghana's exports to the U.S. increased by 21.5 percent to US$192m during the period. Consequently, Ghana's trade deficit with the U.S. declined from $179m in 2005 to $98m. Trade analysts attributed the upsurge largely to the favourable treatment Ghana, like other African countries, enjoyed exporting under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Ghana's exports to the U.S. include forest and agricultural products, minerals and metals, textiles and apparel, and petroleum-related products.Apparel exports from Ghana, for instance, almost doubled under the AGOA last year, increasing from US$4.9m in 2005 to US$8.8m. On the sub regional level, West Africa as a whole exported US$31bn in goods to the US of which US$29bn was registered under AGOA.Ghana’s trade with the European Union (EU) however remains the largest compared with any other part of the world. As of 2004, it was US$3,012.6m representing US$1,613.3 of EU’s exports to Ghana and US$1,404.3 of Ghana’s exports to the EU.AGOA, signed into law in 2000 amended in 2002, offers favourable duty and quota free market access of mining, agro-processed, tourist and textile products from Africa to the US markets.Ghana will this year host the annual AGOA forum from July 16 to 19. 38 out of the 48 sub-Saharan African countries have AGOA status.Credit: B&FT