AGOA Extension Offers Temporary Reprieve for African Exporters to the US

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a law extending a preferential trade program for Africa through Dec. 31, effective retroactively from Sept. 30, 2025, the chief US trade negotiator said.

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said his office would work with Congress this year to update the program to provide more market ⁠access for US businesses, farmers and ranchers, and to align with Trump’s America First ⁠trade policy. The African Growth and Opportunity Act, first enacted in 2000 to provide duty-free access to the US market for eligible Sub-Saharan African countries covering more than 1,800 products, expired in September, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of African jobs.

The US House of Representatives last month passed legislation to extend the law for ‍three years, but the Senate later reduced the extension to one ​year, which the House concurred with.

Extension of the trade program comes amid strained relations ‍between the United States and South Africa, Africa’s largest economy. Trump last year boycotted a meeting of the Group ⁠of 20 major economies hosted by ‍South Africa, which held the rotating G20 presidency. Trump later said South Africa would not be invited to G20 meetings hosted this year by the United States, which assumed the group’s presidency in December.

South African ‍Trade Minister Parks Tau last month welcomed passage of the ‍extension, saying it ‌would “provide certainty and predictability for African and American businesses that rely on the program.”

USTR said it ‌would work with relevant agencies to implement any modifications ​made ‍to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States as a result of the legislation reauthorizing AGOA.

To qualify for AGOA’s duty-free treatment, countries must establish or make continual progress toward establishing a market-based economy, the rule of law, political pluralism, and the right to ‌due process, USTR said.

Additionally, countries must eliminate barriers to US trade and investment, enact policies to reduce poverty, combat ‌corruption, and protect human rights, it noted.

By Andrea ‍Shalal; Editors: Chris Reese and Michael Perry

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