The United States reactivated the preferential access agreement for products from around 30 sub-Saharan African countries to the North American market for another year.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been extended until December 31, 2026, said the trade representative of the President of the United States (USA).
The agreement, which includes Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe, has “retroactive effects to September 30, 2025”, the date on which it had expired, added Jamieson Greer, in a statement, on Tuesday.
The extension of the agreement was included in a law promulgated by US President Donald Trump.
The document, approved by the House of Representatives after more than three days of shutdown, extends funding for government agencies until September 30, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security.
On January 12, the House of Representatives (lower house) of the US parliament had approved the continuation of AGOA for another three years, but the Senate (upper house) reduced the extension to one year.
AGOA, launched in 2000, during the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton, is the cornerstone of economic relations between the United States and sub-Saharan African countries.
The agreement allows African countries to export more than seven thousand products to the United States duty-free, as long as they meet a series of conditions, including political pluralism, respect for human rights and anti-corruption measures.
The Trump Administration used the end of the agreement as a way to pressure African countries.
Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, admitted in October that Washington conditioned the extension of AGOA on Ghana’s acceptance of individuals deported from the United States.
The White House has also repeatedly stated that, to obtain an extension of AGOA, African countries needed to become more receptive to North American products.
“21st century AGOA must demand more from our trading partners and provide better market access for American businesses, farmers and ranchers,” Jamieson Greer said Tuesday.
The leader specified that he wants to work with US lawmakers to “modernize the program and align it with President Trump’s ‘America First’ policy.”
On January 12, African Union Commission Chairman Mahmoud Ali Youssouf welcomed “the overwhelming approval by the United States House of Representatives of a three-year extension of AGOA.”
“For more than two decades, AGOA has been a pillar of economic relations between the United States and Africa, supporting industrialization, job creation, regional value chains and inclusive growth across the continent,” said Youssouf.
The program has widely benefited sectors from agriculture to textiles to metals and fuels in countries such as Madagascar, Lesotho and South Africa, although the impact has been uneven across the continent.
Countries such as Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo or Nigeria — whose exports are mainly fuels and minerals — face minimal tariff increases, as their main exports benefit from low tariffs or additional tax exemptions.
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