Sierra leone Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in sierra leone, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
Select Country Guide
Trade Agreements
Last published date:

Sierra Leone is a member of the Mano River Union (MRU), which includes Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire.  It is also a member of the Economic Cooperation Organization of West Africa States (ECOWAS), which currently includes as active members: Benin, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo. As a member of the ECOWAS customs union, Sierra Leone applies the ECOWAS Common External Tariff to third countries such as the United States. Qualifying goods from ECOWAS countries (except Cape Verde) enter Sierra Leone duty-free.   

Products from Sierra Leone receive duty-free, quota free access to EU Member States as part of the Everything But Arms agreement. Sierra Leone traditionally has been a beneficiary of AGOA. Additionally, Sierra Leone is a party to the AfCFTA, a multilateral trade agreement among 54 African Union member states. U.S. companies can leverage these agreements by investing in or sourcing from Sierra Leone to access broader regional and global markets (i.e., goods grown, processed, and produced in Sierra Leone can help to meet the rules of origin for exports to these larger markets).  

×

Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

Privacy Program | Information Quality Guidelines | Accessibility