The United States of America (US) has reactivated the agreement granting preferential access to the US market for products from around 30 sub-Saharan African countries for another year, Lusa reported on Wednesday, February 4.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been extended until December 31, 2026, according to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
The agreement, which includes Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe, has “retroactive effect to September 30, 2025,” the date on which it had expired, Greer added in a statement on Tuesday.
The extension of the agreement was included in a law enacted by US President Donald Trump.
The document, approved by the House of Representatives after more than three days of paralysis, extends funding for government agencies, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security, until September 30.
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 7,000 products to the US duty-free, provided 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 Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa admitted in October that Washington had made the extension of AGOA conditional on Ghana’s acceptance of individuals deported from the US.
The White House has also repeatedly stated that, in order to obtain an extension of AGOA, African countries needed to become more receptive to US products. “AGOA in the 21st century must demand more from our trading partners and provide better market access for American businesses, farmers, and ranchers,” Jamieson Greer said on Tuesday.
He 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 Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf welcomed “the overwhelming approval by the US 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,” Youssouf said.
The program has greatly benefited sectors such as agriculture, textiles, 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, and Nigeria—whose exports are mainly fuels and minerals—face minimal tariff increases, as their main exports benefit from low tariffs or additional tax exemptions.
